You always have a choice. You can choose not to go. If someone asks you to go you can say no. If they don’t take no for an answer then you can lie to them. Just say you can’t get an ESTA, there are many innocuous reasons such as visiting Cuba.
It’s true that Five Eyes countries are in general not very welcoming but the US is certainly the most unpleasant to enter.
>You always have a choice. You can choose not to go.
Of course, you can physically restrain yourself from going to X or Y unpleasant major country, but go ahead and tell someone rushing urgently to such a country for the funeral or medical emergency of a family member, or a serious financial emergency, that they can just "choose not to go" as if it were a case of choosing what toilet paper to buy.
It’s true that Five Eyes countries are in general not very welcoming but the US is certainly the most unpleasant to enter.