Earlier this year, as President Donald Trump was beginning to reshape the American government, Michael, an emergency room doctor who was born, raised, and trained in the United States, packed up his family and got out.

Michael now works in a small-town hospital in Canada. KFF Health News and NPR granted him anonymity because of fears he might face reprisal from the Trump administration if he returns to the U.S. He said he feels some guilt that he did not stay to resist the Trump agenda but is assured in his decision to leave. Too much of America has simply grown too comfortable with violence and cruelty, he said.

  • Deflated0ne@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    How long do we think it’ll take for the brain drain to kick into its full economic consequences? 5, 10 years?

      • BoycottPro@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        This time we need aggressive offense. Relentlessly and accurately blame the Republicans for every single failure they caused.

        • arrow74@lemm.ee
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          3 days ago

          And about 35% of people will still blame it on the dems, 5% will just vote based on the economy (if good vote incumbent party, if bad vote opposing party), so maybe we can hope the remaining 10% can be swayed to reason. First past the post voting is so so bad

          • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            First past the post voting is so so bad

            Whaddaya gonna do? The people pushing the alternatives can’t even unify on a front because one half wants it too simple like europe countries do it and the other side wants it so hard you need a doctoral degree to figure it out.

            • arrow74@lemm.ee
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              3 days ago

              Ranked choice voting isn’t hard. There are 10 minute YouTube videos for children that explain the concept, just add it to civics class curriculum.

        • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          A lot of it has to do with media framing of the issues.

          Much of our news media writes headlines like “Republicans claim Democrats are responsible for X”.

          There’s often just no looking into what’s true at all. It’s a simple parroting of claims. It means winning the argument simply requires being the loudest ass with the most claims recorded in public.

    • chirospasm@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Based on how much the institutions of the US will continue to uphold, I think we’ll see the impact in 10 years or more. Hopefully, though – granted, hope isn’t an operational term, just an ideal – there will be some measure of course correction within that decade.

      • Deflated0ne@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        What was the term back during Bush’s war on peace?

        “Extraordinary Rendition”

        No. That was shipping “criminals” to torture camps and prisons in a third country so the US wouldn’t be blamed for all the torture and illegal imprisonment.

        That sounds familiar. Like recently familiar.

        Still. Wonder if there’s a name for kidnapping escaped scientists who fled the country and bringing them back. I bet there’s a German word. There’s always a German word. Might be 47 letters and entirely unpronounceable. But it probably exists.

  • BoycottPro@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    The irony is when we get over this we’ll likely end up replacing our American-born doctors with immigrants to replace all the people lost.

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      3 days ago

      That was true pre-Trump. Now? All bets are off. And frankly, I will look down on a new foreign medical doctor now, not because I think the quality of care sucks. But because in my mind I would be thinking “what kind of dumb fuck wants to move here right now?”

  • turtlesareneat@discuss.online
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    3 days ago

    We have a friend who’s a pediatric emergency physician in a world-class US city. The day Trump was elected, she scrubbed her social media of anything critical, and started quietly scouting properties she can move her family to in friendlier countries. Right now her income is supporting like 3 US households, if she pulls out, it’s like 3 families, 3 mortgages, all of that money goes with her.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    3 days ago

    I’m only still here because my partner is a refugee who can’t leave without losing her protected status.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    We will take all the doctors (and nurses) that want to leave that third world shithole. I’ll meet you at the border and give you a lift to wherever you want to go.

    • Case@lemmynsfw.com
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      2 days ago

      If I could drive in the snow, and deal with the snow, and the rest of the winter wonderland I’m not at all accustomed to, I would have been in Canada a long time ago.

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        It’s not so bad here, sometimes summer even falls on a weekend every few years.