Tales from a once grand land

By David Parody

So, back in October of 2024, I was not one who predicted the return to office of the man now sitting as the president of the United States. Long gone were, I mistakenly thought, the days of rule by Twitter and CNN could live peacefully ever after. So with that mistaken view of the world I went ahead and booked a family holiday (vacation as they say here) to the land of Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter World.

Six months later, I found myself deleting every pro Democrat/Kamala and anti MAGA post and like on any social media for fear that if my computer or laptop was to be searched by Homeland upon entering the USA, I could be refused entry as an enemy of the state. I even removed WhatsApp messages and threads entirely from my phone as they might have contained something which in the European context is harmless banter but in the eyes of an over eager DHS official, against the state. All the family did the same on their phones and my laptop was cleared of everything, including links to my cloud services where I keep my work stuff. Who would have said then, that the land of free speech and liberty was to become what it is now, a police state worse than many of the old eastern Europe.

Whilst in the USA, the White House Press secretary goes on TV to say that any tourist in the US now needs to register with the federal government if they have been in the US for more than 30 days, so tourists are also being targeted for special attention. Many European countries issued specific travel advisories against travelling to the US.

What if any of my tattoos accidentally match that of an outlawed Gang and I get pulled out from the waterpark or hotel pool?

The palpable fear that I saw in my interactions in my short stay in Florida were repeated over and over again. Take for example one of the Uber drivers, let’s call him Juan. He arrived from Venezuela with his wife on a tourist visa a few years back. Both qualified professionals, now working in the hospitality trades, had a child, bought a house with a mortgage and successfully applied for asylum. Whilst that was successful, the cost of seeking a green card now is prohibitive to them. But in the current climate a minor traffic violation or whistleblower could see Juan and his family facing deportation as his papers are not exactly in order despite him being in the US legally.

In the amusement parks and hotels, staff/cast members would normally display where they are from under their name, despite the obvious Latin American origin of many, they now show some county in Florida instead. Spanish, so widely spoken in Florida before, is now whispered instead of spoken, for fear of being overheard. I had emphasised to my children when at the airport not to speak of what little Spanish they know, sad really. Especially since English was declared as the official language of the USA last month.

It is not by coincidence that tourism to the USA, representing US$100Bn a year, has already decreased by over 30%. Who wants to come to a country, increasingly hostile towards tourists and foreigners more generally? Seriously, if I had been able to get a refund for my flights, hotel and park tickets in November, I would have and gone to Iceland instead.

Other acquaintances we met were busy trying to look for a European family connection in order to seek nationality of those countries their forefathers came from.

“Everyone wants to come to America” used to be the President’s slogan, now Americans want to run away from it.

At the end of the day, the holiday went off without a hitch. The immigration officer asked the standard perfunctory questions about length of stay and address, and we were promptly moved on.

For the first time travelling in the West, and I travel a lot to some dodgy countries, I had a continuous apprehension which only disappeared once the flight from Orlando landed in Gatwick.

“USA! USA! USA!” may be a rallying cry for the MAGA crowd, except that whatever it is printed on, the clothes they wear and the car they ride to their rallies in, are most likely actually made anywhere but in the USA.

So long, Land of the Free, the founding fathers must be turning in their graves.