The United States was slow to enter World War II because the pointless bloodbath of WWI was still fresh in the memories of a country that lost 100,000 dead and 200,000 wounded. But eventually it became clear that the conflict in Europe was a fight in which either democracy or tyranny would prevail.
The young JFK’s father was the ambassador to England as Prime Minister Chamberlain chose to appease Hitler rather than oppose him, but by 1939 the Nazis were invading their neighbors and one by one they fell — Poland, Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and so on. Neutrality no longer seemed viable. Chamberlain was forced to declare that a state of war existed.
As this drama was taking place JFK chose Britain’s slow response to the threat of the Nazis as the subject for his senior thesis at Harvard. His father encouraged its publication in 1940 under the title “Why England Slept.” It’s implicit warning was that ignoring aggression too long risked becoming its next victim. And soon JFK, visiting his father, was confronted with the spectacle of Nazi bombers attacking Britain.
After the war was won, the United States was a superior military and industrial power in part because it had escaped the kind of destruction our European allies endured and alone possessed the nuclear arms that had led to the Japanese to surrender. Unfortunately, hubris soon lured us into several messy wars in Korea and Vietnam and our nuclear monopoly didn’t last. The communist powers, including the Soviet Union and China, were the new tyrannies that democratic alliances such as NATO were created to deter.
Which brings us to Quislings. Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian politician as fascism was on the rise in Europe. He started the fascist National Unity Party in imitation of the Nazis. In 1940 he tried to emulate Hitler by leading an attempted coup d’etat that failed. As a result the word Quisling became a synonym for a traitor or collaborator with the enemy since the Nazis by then were invading his country and he was on their side.
In a 1941 address to Allied delegates Prime Minister Winston Churchill denounced “a vile race of Quislings hired to fawn upon their conquerer (that is, Hitler) to collaborate with his designs, and to enforce his rule upon his fellow countrymen.”
For decades after WWII deterrence largely worked, but lately we seem to have lost interest in being the arsenal of democracy, or the source of aid and succor to those in need. There is a rising strain of isolationism, a willingness to look the other way or, even worse, to cosy up to the villains.
It is not farfetched to see Trump and his Republican House and Senate followers as a rebirth of the Quislings. Trump fawns over tyrants like Putin, Xi Zinping, and Kim Jong Un. His acolytes now oppose aid to Ukraine, and question the need to deter tyrants from invading their neighbors.
For years Trump has argued that NATO costs too much and has recently encouraged Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries. As in WWII, these neo-quislings think it’s safer to take the side of the bad guys or to look the other way and let them let them attack and subjugate our fellow democracies.
But Trump had another motive. He was always less interested in politics and foreign policy than in turning a profit. As president he put his family on the payroll, he made deals that feathered their nest. Forbes reports that during his four years in office he raked in $2.4 billion and his son-in-law finagled a $2 billion investment from the Saudi crown prince.
Millions came from 20 foreign governments which can look a lot like bribery. It also violates the Constitution which forbids federal officeholders from accepting money, payments or gifts “of any kind whatever” from foreign governments and monarchs unless they obtain “the consent of the Congress” to do so. He did not. Like the original Quislings, he may be regarded as either a colaborator with our enemies or a traitor to our democracy but surely puts a fast buck ahead of duty, honor, and country.