Quisling (/ˈkwɪzlɪŋ/; Norwegian pronunciation: [²kvisliŋ]) noun “a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country.”
By now, 1.5 years into Trump’s alternate reality America, you may have heard the word “quisling”. Like the word “boycott”, “quisling” is a common noun derived from the name of an actual person.
Vidkun Quisling (7/18/1887 – 10/24/1945) was a Norwegian military officer and politician who, on his own, was unremarkable and would likely have faded into obscurity. Prior to WWII, he founded a floundering Norwegian fascist party Nasjonal Samling (National Union), but Norway was not interested in fascism, and the party failed to get a single seat in the Storting. Then Hitler’s troops invaded and occupied Norway, and Quisling was put in place as Prime Minister. He led a puppet government known as the “Quisling regime” that participated in the Final Solution, and was ultimately executed for charges that included embezzlement, murder, and high treason.
So, yeah, post-Helsinki you may hear more people calling Trump a “quisling”, and they’ll be right to do so. Trump has now put on open display his willingness to follow Putin’s lead over American concerns. While America isn’t physically being occupied by Russian forces, much of our modern lives exists online, and the corruptive influence of Russian hackers and bots is still being felt daily. Current calls for paper ballots and spot checks of the Midterm elections reflect our very real and ongoing concerns about digital security while engaged in cyber-warfare. Meanwhile, Trump continues to dismantle the legacy of Obama along with the rule of law and our longstanding international alliances. His actions are treasonous.
Last note: a synonym for “quisling” is “collaborationist”.