My parents were born in the 1910s and 20s. They were among those Americans who experienced the Great Depression in their youth and then helped crush the fascist powers in World War II. You might say they are the original “antifas.”
I have great admiration for my parents and their contemporaries, though I’m reluctant to call them “the greatest generation” because, well, look at what a questionable job they did in raising us boomers.
But anyway, the World War II era was unmistakably a crucial turning point in history. It looms large for us today because it so profoundly shaped the world we live in. In some ways that era resonates with the fall of the Titans in Greek mythology whose rule ended when the Olympian gods revolted against them, took over the world and transformed it for generations to come. The World War II generation, by demolishing Hitler, Mussolini, and the other fascists, made our world one of ever-expanding peace, prosperity and fair play: the opposite of a fascist domain.
I’m guessing most people have forgotten the Norwegian fascist and traitor Vidkun Quisling, who was executed by his fellow citizens at the end of the war. When Hitler invaded Norway in 1940, Quisling threw in his lot with the Nazis who then allowed him to oversee his country as a puppet. His treason and other crimes were so abhorrent to the international community that the word “quisling” became a label of deep contempt not only in English, but in several other languages.
Vidkun Quisling 1887-1945
I think we should revive the word “quisling” because -- you know -- Donald Trump. Technically a quisling betrays his or her country while it is being occupied by foreign forces. America hasn’t been literally invaded and occupied, but our enemies have certainly made inroads into the current administration. For Exhibit A we have Trump rejecting the CIA’s analysis about Russian interference in our elections and accepting instead the word of the dictator Putin. Exhibit B: Trump entertaining Russians in the White House and discussing American government secrets with them. Exhibit C: Trump’s call to Ukrainian President Zelensky in which he tried to extort Zelensky, hoping to force him to claim he had evidence that would damage Joe Biden. Trump’s leverage was American military aid that Ukraine desperately needed to defend itself against Russian invaders and Trump’s aim was to hold off the aid until Zelensky did his unsavory bidding. That to me says “quisling.”
Can you imagine that in 1940, when Churchill pleaded with Roosevelt for help in defending his country against the Nazis, Roosevelt might respond by saying, “We’ll see, Winston. But first, tell me what kind of dirt you can offer that would smear my political rivals?”
Of course not, because Roosevelt, unlike Trump, was loyal to America’s allies and neither a quisling nor a traitor of any kind.
Now we are faced with Trump’s final act of treason. As every reasonable person who has been paying attention to reliable news sources* knows, Biden won the presidency decisively. Trump, with the help of Bill Barr and other henchmen, is broadcasting the lie that election fraud puts the outcome in doubt. This is obviously false, but, when you have a cult-like following that will stick with you even if you “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody,” and you have the assistance of a pack of quislings at a major news network** promoting your lies, you can do a lot of damage. And Trump is doing a lot of damage.
I say damage because that’s what our country is enduring. Trump’s re-election bid is doomed -- done for, kaput, cooked like a Christmas goose, burned out, and belly-up. We can celebrate that.
But he seems unwilling to yield the spotlight. And now, by spewing out lies about the fraud that never was, Trump is trashing the image of American democracy for all the world to see. Not only will his Fifth Avenue kool-aid drinkers stumble through life believing the election was illegitimate, but millions of citizens in nations around the world who have long looked to the United States as a great bastion of democracy will start to wonder if their admiration has been misplaced.
That’s what makes Trump dangerous to the country now as he thrashes about in his inimitably garish way, hoping, it seems, to be remembered as the world’s greatest sore loser. What a chump. I believe his portrait is destined for the Vidkun Quisling Hall of Infamy and I fervently hope that his name, like that of Quisling, may become a noxious byword to the people of every nation for decades to come.
Footnotes
* i.e, not Fox
** i.e, Fox
