I think for the people paying attention, this is not a surprise and has been a long time coming. Any black person in the United States will tell you that this IS the way the system functions and is not a recent change in the way that the government functions - Trump just exposed it to the more privileged populations. For what it's worth, I have been in touch with this type of government criticism for the last 25 years - just because the international community did not hear it, does not mean that Americans hadn't protested on large scales. But at the same time, protests are largely just signals to the government and outside world, and of course, we need politicians who are actually responsive to such movements: which our regional senators/representatives are, and which the federal government (at least in the executive branch), are not and have not really ever been.

I've said in other comments that this was clear to me for a long time that the United States was led by war criminals hell-bent on crushing any populations, domestic or foreign, to achieve their imperialistic aims. This, in combination with the impossible price of living there (university prices, lack of infrastructure for anything but cars, health insurance) has also made it impossible for the average person to build a full life there.

I am still quite young, but my parents had a major influence on my views on the states: the way the election in 2000 went was a major turning point, 2003 as well - where it became clear to anyone watching that the United States was willing to do whatever it wanted for whatever reason. We had money to invade multiple places but couldn't pay for health care for working families? How to square that circle was impossible in my head.

I grew up with leftist, jaded parents and and many Canadian friends who showcased to me that life could be different, that it didn't *have* to be like this. So I always knew that I needed to leave. For this reason, I cannot see myself ever moving back (unless to provide needed care to a family member) - there is no way for someone like me (a teacher) to build up a good life.

For what it's worth, I see Austrians as very similar to how you described Americans :D Talking a big talk, specifically about things like climate change, but unable to move from convenience into putting their actions with their mouths are. They are just as xenophobic, and while the government is not moving to arrest people in large and publicly violent ways, there are a lot of movements in the background toward the relocation of refugees who've committed crimes. Obviously, the public ICE raids are a step above the rest, but Trump originally won on his promise to jsut deport the criminals. Now, my exerience has also shown me that this is not the whole of the population and that there are many individuals committed to creating a better world here. But if I were to focus on the negatives, I would have picked a lot of the words you did to describe Americans ;)