Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The View from Europe
So, fewer than 24 hours ago, I was watching the noontime news show “MiMa” (“Mittagsmagazin”/Midday Magazine) on ZDF here in Germany, where a self-important political hack with The Brookings Institution went on about how Trump absolutely could not win Pennsylvania.
Hahahahaha!
Amish hand Pennsylvania to Trump.
Apparently they were unaware of the FDA raid on an Amish farmer named “Miller.”
The reactions of the German press are sure to be hilarious in the hours to come. Die Zeit is calling it “The Nightmare.” Der Spiegel seems more interested in finding a scapegoat group among the demographics that usually turn out massively for the Dems. That island of (generally) rational analysis of American politics in the German press, Die Welt, calls Trump’s return to the White House a “Vote of No-Confidence against the Establishment.”
More later if time allows.
Here’s some more.
Stern is in full freak out mode. “His new presidency seems driven by one thing: Revenge” is their above the fold headline, so to speak, on the webpage, along with an editorial stating “Values didn’t decide this election. Voters only thought about one thing: Their wallets.”
To my surprise the folks over at Tagesschau are relatively sober and thoughtful in their responses. Für die Deutsch-Könnenden among the Richochetti, here is the link.
Published in Election 2024
The Amish are also going to hand Michigan to Trump.
Isn’t that Amish business priceless?
I live in an area with a strong Mennonite and Amish population. I have written before about how blessed I feel to have such good neighbors. Not to mention the excellent food they sell, and the neighbor three doors down who has a butcher shop where I can get local grass-fed beef and pork from pigs kept in apple orchards that are no longer picked for fruit.
They are apolitical, of course. I don’t recall seeing them involved at any of the events I attended when Valerie was running for town board, or similar affairs. But I knew this year would be different when I encountered a two-horse covered buggy, trotting down the road, flying a Trump flag from a pole. That is a completely unexpected thing, like finding uranium for sale in a five-and-dime store or having a fried egg wink at you.
https://twitter.com/KonstantinKisin/status/1854151133385613690
Maybe with some help from Muslims.
Eventually we’ll hear something about a reckoning with Democrats by American Muslims. If it wasn’t this time, it’ll be soon.
Pro-Hamas Muslims can go jump in Lake Michigan. But some other Muslims are like “You know, I don’t think we’re supposed to support adulterous cheerleaders for abortion and transgenderism according to the Hadith” or “Actually, I want peace and prosperity for Arabs in the Middle East more than I want to kill Jews.”
And on delo.si, I see a headline that goes – I think – “Trump has succeeded in exposing the misery of modern world democracy.” Which is essentially plutocracy. But, adds this wise Slovene, Trump did it in his own way, with insults and a lowering of the debate. So I guess that’s bad.
Where I grew up, there was a very large Amish community. Adams county was about 40% Amish back in the ’80s and I would wager that percentage has increased since. They work in construction a lot and a man named Daniel, a “Beard” in local parlance, helped dad rebuild a couple of our barns after a tornado a few years ago. They tend to be good folks.
I studied Islam as part of my minor in Comparative Religion, although I spent more time in Buddhism and Hinduism (thanks to the influence of Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light). The Sufi tradition that encouraged art and science in Istanbul is what I see when I talk to members of a local mosque (yes, there is one in the wilds of Western NY, along with a Sikh temple and plenty of other religious diversity). I have found, when the subject comes up, that they are terribly disturbed about the blatant evil done by Hamas and their fellow travelers, and offended that it is done in the name of their faith. One friend told me, “We Persians built civilizations. Arabs live in the desert and raid villages.”
(warning: obligatory book plug) You included the writings of a prominent Islamic scholar in Faith, Reason and Beyond Reason. I thought that was valuable, since common perception of Islamic thought starts with “Death to Israel and America.”
I was just in Ireland and Scotland, and I was surprised at how interested in our election the people I interacted with were. They usually brought up the election; I did not. Some were anti-Trump, some were for Trump, but I did not come across anyone who was actually for Harris – they were simply against Trump.
They have two-horse buggies out your way? I’ve yet to see such a thing in an Amish community, or in the one Mennonite community I know of that uses horse-drawn transportation. (There is a Mennonite buggy-builder near Nappanee, Indiana, who builds all sorts of buggies that the Amish would never use, but that doesn’t count.) The Amish will use two-horse rigs (and more) for their draft horses, but that’s different, too.
Now you’ve got me curious.
Back in June my wife and I were at an ice cream shop in Shipshewana where a bunch of Amish girls came in a big, covered buggy pulled by one horse. The girls all looked fairly light-weight, but still, I kind of felt sorry for the horse.
There is a large Amish community in that area south of Fort Wayne that was a relatively late arrival from Switzerland, so talks a little differently than the other Amish in Indiana. They don’t use covered buggies, so I imagine it can be a little uncomfortable in winter. At least that’s the way it was nearly 20 years ago. We heard stories of a cultural clash when a guy from their community married a woman from the culturally more liberal Amish from around Elkhart. She tried opening her own business, which didn’t go over so well among the neighbors.
I had wanted to stay at Decatur for some bicycle riding in late October, but something must have been going on that made it hard to find a place to stay on the dates we wanted. I did get in a ride to Montpelier, though. First time I was ever there. Didn’t see any Amish on that ride.
I know a guy who grew up Amish. He said he donated to an Amish PAC, if you can believe that one (!), that was working in Michigan. Yesterday he told me “Amish don’t vote. 175,000 Amish in Michigan are going to vote for Trump.”
And Catholics. An exit poll showed Catholics were +15 for Trump. PA, MI, WI have a lot of Catholics. It is nice to see people of faith participating in government.
Got to put my order in for Guggisberg baby Swiss cheese today! Makes great fondue with a buttery chardonnay.
Support the Amish. They’ll ship across country.
@MattBalzer posted a tweet in the PIT last night:
I responded with:
“The Ents marching on Isengard” is positively brilliant.
This is too important for etiquette.
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, feelings shall be hurt!
I challenged some Harris supporters in my family with: Make the case for Kamala without referencing Trump.
They never answered.
It’s nice to see Catholics recognizing Harris as hostile to the Faith. Hopefully it will be increasingly recognized by all Catholics that the Democratic party is not neutral – it is posively anti-Catholic in its policies and attitudes.
Is Portugal in Europe? It thinks it is. I long ago lost interest, but now I’m sort of enjoying revisiting news sources of yore. I see an opinion piece on publico.pt titled It’s The Hegemony, Stupid. Of course it mentions, in its very first sentence, the extreme right, there being no other kind. Trump’s victory shows how this political force has successfully centered itself on what is essential: the conquest of hegemony. Then there’s something about an Italian Communist asserting decades ago that modern Machiavellianism entails the conquest and retention of power, these writings nowadays closely read by ultra-rightists in France and Brazil. Then I hit the paywall. Whew! For all I know, the word “conquest” appears again and again, in every paragraph, maybe even twice in each one.
I might not have even thought of what Portugal is, uh, up to these days, except just yesterday I came across what I believe was an editorial in the bimonthly newspaper called County Highway, which is by and about Americans. The writer mused on the outsize passions of this election, and wondered how many people, disappointed one way or another, would either get right to work on that off-the-grid cabin or seek visas to Portugal. I’m sure that was just rhetorical, a careless geographical stand-in for someplace distant and tiny and obscure. It is ironic that there was once a time when quite a lot of people sought visas through Portugal, en route to the Americas! But WWII was long ago, and I don’t take Europe seriously anymore. Then again, I don’t read German newspapers either. If I did, who knows, I might learn something! Maybe even about American elections, though I doubt that. To judge from awful fashion statements overseas, I sense that no one outside the U.S. grasps that the number of stars on its flag is significant. Foreigners really don’t understand this country.
A lot of that seems to come from not really understanding how BIG it is.
Try a little bit further south: The area around Berne. There you will see plenty of covered buggies and houses with no electric lines.
German liberal tears are some of the best. We all had high hopes for the 2024 vintages, and I’m sure we won’t be disappointed.
How do the
SikhsNY Muslims get around the insistence on a literal mode of adherence to the Koran, and the “sword verses” in particular?Sufis. They are more into the mystical stuff than the warrior stuff.
Didn’t it end up that 200K previously unregistered Amish voted for Trump?
I’ve heard that across social media but do not know if it is true.
The thing is: if this is true, it is remarkable. One of the deep beliefs they hold to is to not participate in political affairs. (Which is why these people were almost all previously unregistered to vote.
A question for someone in Germany: Does the Trump is Hitler angle get mentioned much or at all? I doubt it can be completely ignored. Does it have any traction, if it is mentioned? I’m curious what the country who had Hitler as a leader thinks about that. Sure, the Democrats have been calling Republican presidential candidates Hitler since 1940, but the last two presidents seem to have been really egregious with Chimpy McBushitler and Trump.
Those bad Muslims do exist. But there are a lot of Muslims who aren’t like that.
Allama Iqbal is like a microcosm for that. Even he supported some bad policies towards the Ahmedis, a religious minority. He’s also a brilliant philosopher.
A sword-day, a red day ere the sun rises!
And boy was it ever.
Somehow that seems like “The View” From Europe.
Are their “The View” stars as awful as ours?
The Irish media/political class have been completely in the tank for the Democrats since forever. This has accelerated since Trump came to power. It’s actually dangerous to one’s well-being and reputation to speak well of any GOP candidate or President – I was threatened with violence after doing so during Trump’s first term. The same goes for support for Israel, which puts me in a double bind!
Anyway, as in other European countries, our political leaders have been playing fast and loose with their criticisms of Trump since he came on the scene. The chickens might now come home to roost for Ireland, where the economy is heavily dependent on US companies which bring huge employment, both direct and secondary. To top that off, our genius leaders are pushing an anti-Israel boycott which could put some of our biggest employers on the wrong side of US anti-BDS laws. Virtue-signalling can be costly sometimes.
(Trump actually provides hundreds of jobs in his golf resort at Doonbeg, Co Clare, where he and his sons, particularly Eric, are popular. My wife and I stayed there very recently.)