Visit USA? You Must Be Joking Pt I

Avast ye coloreds! You're not wanted in Trumpland...go back to your s__thole country, etc.

There's good stuff over at Politico on how the number of visas to the United States--including the tourist visas I am emphasizing here--has fallen significantly since Trump became president.  No real explanation is required about why this is happening since his bigotry knows few bounds--against people of dissimilar color, creed, gender, gender identity, or other non-Trumpian elements. In short, if you're not a white male, you're not wanted in Trump's America.

I will have more on the reduction of tourism to the United States--its largest export sector, mind you. It's always struck me as novel that someone who supposedly made a fortune (or at least purports to have made one--we can't tell as Trump famously won't release his tax records) has done more than any American president in living memory to make others unwelcome.

Suffice to say for now that the number of those eligible to visit America are dwindling. Not that many necessarily want to nowadays but...

It’s unclear whether the drop is due to fewer people applying or more rejections of [visa] applications. The cause is likely some combination of both. The State Department furnishes data on how many visitor visas are granted per country, but releases only limited information on how many applications are received or refused.

The timing is informative though as Trump's hateful bigotry has escalated:

But the decline comes as Trump is once again underscoring his hard-line views on immigration. Over the weekend, the president used Twitter to blame Democrats and the Mexican government for a “dangerous” flow of migrants over the border. The Republican president blasted America’s “dumb immigration laws” and threatened to abandon legislative talks on how to deal with undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Evidence plainly indicates that Trump’s desire to restrict foreigners’ access to the U.S. has become a reality. Critics say that, by imposing new procedural and security hurdles, Trump and his aides are building a figurative wall to keep people out of America, even those who just want to come for a brief visit. The critics fear the drop in visas could damage industries, ranging from tourism to higher education. 

Is there an exchange-traded fund [ETF] for the American tourism sector? Given current trends, betting against it is a no-brainer in the age of Trump. Believe it or not, and Trump supporters may have difficulty believing this, white supremacist policies are not quite welcoming.