President Trump’s return to the White House has revived a familiar media genre — columns lamenting how “ashamed” Americans supposedly feel when traveling abroad.

USA Today's recent headline blared, “‘I didn’t vote for him’: How American tourists are navigating global perceptions.” It tells the story of how a couple actually canceled their overseas vacation out of fear they'd be mistaken for Trump supporters. The BBC followed with, “’People might treat us differently’: Trump era leaves U.S. tourists in Paris feeling shame.” A Boston Globe columnist also chimed in: “Trump’s behavior makes me embarrassed to be an American.”

To quantify the hand-wringing, a recent survey found that 72 percent of “experienced” U.S. travelers worry they might feel unwelcome abroad.

The underlying assumption is clear: Foreign distaste for Trump taints every U.S. passport holder. But that anxiety reveals more about the worldview of those making the claim — usually progressive, elite, Western — than it does........

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