[rayiner]

Then just say that. Customs has some list that's automatically generated based on a Google search or something like that, and all they're doing is trying to catch you lying. Like the TSA, this screening is done by the lowest common denominator of government employee to catch the lowest common denominator of terrorist or foreign subversive.

[embedding-shape]

> to catch the lowest common denominator of terrorist or foreign subversive

My guess from the outside, is that none of these actions are actually meant to "capture" or even "detect" any of those things, the methods are likely to inefficient and small to be able to do so.

What they're trying to do, is make those people not even consider going to the US in the first place, because they're scared of getting caught. Same as a lot of the ICE actions and other things going on. They're not meant to be efficiently solving some concrete issue with their action, they're meant to scare the rest of the populace into being docile and accepting more and more control over time.

[vinni2]

They have managed to scare me off at least. So I will spend my money elsewhere.

[embedding-shape]

Same here, have had to cancel meetings, conferences, events and more because me and others don't feel like taking the risk of ending up in a detention center and sent to a foreign country. I'm guessing all of this is working exactly as they intended it to work.

[rayiner]

Good thing international tourism counts for only about half of a percent of U.S. GDP: https://wttc.org/news/us-economy-set-to-lose-12-5bn-in-inter...

[soco]

Right on, who needs those puny half percents or the jobs related to them, when we have megacorps covering for the rest of the gdp (and exporting it to Cayman).

[DFHippie]

A lot of things will be harder for the US to do if everyone in the world hates us. Letting people come here and see that most Americans aren't monsters pays dividends beyond the dollars they spend.

The Trump Administrations actions read like a checklist of things you'd do if you wanted to destroy the US's power to protect itself and its allies and promote the well-being of its people.

[raw_anon_1111]

> Letting people come here and see that most Americans aren't monsters pays dividends beyond the dollars they spend.

40% of the population still support Trump.

If you have 10 friends and ask them where they want to meet for dinner and 6 say let’s go to a Mexican restaurant and the other 4 say “let’s kill Bob and eat him”, you still need to be concerned about your friend group.

[rayiner]

Most of his major policies have approval ratings above 50% https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/HHP... (page 23)

53% think he’s doing a better job than Biden (page 18)

His approval rating in his second term is tracking about the same or a bit higher than Obama’s at the same time: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/trump-obama-...

[vinni2]

Who said I visit US for tourism?

[raw_anon_1111]

No it’s meant to make sure you don’t say mean things about people Trump likes.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/15/state-department-vi...

[BLKNSLVR]

How could this be weaponised against someone you don't like?

How easy is it to set up a <any social network> account under someone else's name, post a bunch of inflammatory opinions, AI some photos of them at a Free Palestine rally, and then sit back and await the inevitable border crossing horror story?

Mental note: Research yourself (and your traveling companions) thoroughly before visiting the US.

[rayiner]

Yes, significant potential for such mischief with this system.