With Mr. Cook, leaving is just talk for now. But others are going further. They have researched family history to see if they could qualify for a passport from, say, Ireland, Poland or Germany. They have been updating passports and looking for property to buy in Europe. Some have hired lawyers to explore their options.
David A. Andelman, 79, a longtime journalist who already lives part-time in France, wrote on CNN’s website this past week that he and his wife might move there full-time if Mr. Trump wins and had “found a growing sentiment that we are hardly alone.” The day that his column was posted online, he said, his real estate broker in France received 45 calls from Americans looking to do the same.
A lawyer who has clashed with Mr. Trump is among those who have been studying his European roots in case he needs to establish residency. The conversation, he said, has gone from a knowing joke to prudent contingency planning. It would be “madness to dismiss” the risk, he said.
A former government official who angered Mr. Trump said it is not a trivial conversation or purely humor. While this person expressed optimism that American institutions would prevent major injustices, anyone targeted by Mr. Trump could still be made “miserable” by investigations, grand juries, lawyer fees and career-killing publicity.
Brian Katulis, a scholar at the Middle East Institute who has worked at the National Security Council, the State Department and the Pentagon, said a friend from the Obama administration recently went to London and scoped out possible real estate and schools.
“My view is a little less hair on fire,” he said, expressing faith in the country’s resiliency. “I’m going to ride this ship if it goes down, dumping buckets overboard. I don’t think it’s sinking. But if it starts going in that direction, my attitude is not to jump off the ship. We don’t have better places to go.”
