History Main / TheQuisling

* When some Filipinos defend the actions of the Chinese Coast Guard firing a pressurized water hose on a Filipino supply ship on route to BRP Sierra Madre, PCG Spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela have [[https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/08/11/2287784/pcg-pro-china-filipinos-traitors this to say]] to the nation's traitors.
--> ''"If you are a Filipino, whether in government or private sector, regardless of your politics, defending and making excuses for China's aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic, and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people."''

* Humorously averted by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A]] Cows, who ask that America "EAT MOR CHIKIN". Chick-fil-A had previously had an anthropomorphic chicken for a mascot; its switch to cows was widely seen as a wise move, in part because this subtrope leads people to think that anything with cows would be for milk, or perhaps beef... nope.
** There was a somewhat similar advertising campaign used by UsefulNotes/McDonalds in Finland around the turn of the millennium, where an anthropomorphic pig was standing on the streets around Christmas shouting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MIDusVEjcE Syökää Kanaa]], meaning "eat chicken" and telling people about promotions at [=McDonald's=]. Naturally the pig had ulterior motives for this, namely the fact that during the traditional Finnish Christmas dinner is ham.

[[TropeNamers Named]] after Vidkun Quisling, who assisted the Germans in their conquest and occupation of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.[[note]]Prior to this, Quisling was known for helping Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen in humanitarian work for the Russian famine as well as [[UsefulNotes/TheArmenianGenocide Armenian genocide]] survivors. So not only was he a traitor to his nation, he became a traitor to ''humanity''.[[/note]] The Quisling is the poster person of LesCollaborateurs, who appears whenever one country or culture is being conquered, occupied, or colonized by another, whether it be a human EvilEmpire, an AlienInvasion, an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI uprising]], TheLegionsOfHell, or some other foreign enemy. They do everything possible to curry favor with the new rulers - they speak the invaders' language more often than their own, ape the foreign customs, and refer to their hometown as [[PleaseSelectNewCityName New Invaderia]], AirstripOne, or {{Egopolis}} instead of Freedomville. They might justify this on the grounds that by [[InternalReformist securing a position of power and influence]], they can ensure the occupation is as painless and least oppressive as possible -- this may be genuine or [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist an excuse to grab power]]. Sometimes, this person [[FaceHeelTurn will have been a friend]] of the heroes before the invasion, but will often be someone who had always [[CommanderContrarian given our heroes a hard time]]. Often, they will also try to make them "see reason" and stop their futile attempts to restore the old regime. Frequently has elements of the ObstructiveBureaucrat or TheDragon. When conversing with the conquering leaders they will probably be OpinionFlipflop personified.

* As the rebellion grows and its victory draws near, they opportunistically switch or are coerced to switch sides. They’re disgraced and held in even more contempt, but manage to be just useful enough to save their neck.

* Believe it or not, some Jews were this to the Nazis during UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. Adam Czerniakow, head of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Jozef Andrzej Szerynski, chief of ghetto police, were both Polish Jews who chose to suck up to the Nazis to avoid extermination, as were Chaim Rumkowski, head of the Lodz Ghetto, and Moshe Merin, who was in charge of overseeing the deportation of Jews from East Upper Silesia.
* When some Filipinos defend the actions of the Chinese Coast Guard firing a pressurized water hose on a Filipino supply ship on route to BRP Sierra Madre, PCG Spokeperson Commodore Jay Tarriela have [[https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/08/11/2287784/pcg-pro-china-filipinos-traitors this to say]] to the nation's traitors.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephialtes_of_Trachis Ephialtes of Trachis]] is remembered in Greece in the same way that Quisling is in Norway, and "Ephialtes" has become a synonym for traitor. He betrayed his countrymen and joined the Persians during the Battle of Thermopylae, showing them a mountain path that allowed the Persian forces to outflank the Spartan and other Greek forces that were defending the narrow pass. After the Persians were defeated, the Spartans put a bounty on his head. He was eventually killed in a bar fight by someone who knew nothing of the bounty, but [[PetTheDog the Spartans tracked the killer down and paid him anyway.]]

** Vidkun Quisling's example was actually preceded by that of Artur Seyss-Inquart, who succeeded Kurt Schuschnigg as Chancellor of Austria and reigned for all of two days before handing over control of Austria to Germany in 1938 (the ''Anschluss''). As reward, he was appointed the governor of the newly-created German territory of Austria. Since Austria under his rule was fully on board with the military annexations of Czechoslovakia and Poland, and enthusiastically took part in the Holocaust, after the war Seyss-Inquart was condemned as a war criminal at Nuremberg and executed.

* A more recent example: Alaa Hussein Ali, Saddam Hussein's puppet leader following the invasion of Kuwait. Prior to the war he had held dual Kuwaiti/Iraqi citizenship. He had grown up in Kuwait and later went to Iraq to study. While there he joined Saddam's ruling political faction, the Baathist Party. Sometime after returning home he joined the Kuwaiti Army and held the rank of lieutenant when the invasion began. But rather than fight the invasion, he latched on to it and was appointed head of the "Republic of Kuwait" puppet regime. However, just one week later Saddam declared Kuwait was now part of Iraq and rewarded Ali by making him Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. After Kuwait was liberated and Saddam's [[CurbStompBattle army utterly devastated by Coalition forces]], Ali disappeared. He wasn't seen or heard from until 1998, seven years later, when he turned up in Norway. He returned to Kuwait in 2000 where he was convicted of treason.

* The ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' versions of [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Maximus the Mad]], [[ComicBook/XMen Deadpool, Donald Pierce, Arcade]], [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Norman Osborn, Wilson]] [[ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} Fisk, Matt Murdock, and the Owl]] were all too willing to toward their lot in with Apocalypse despite not being mutants themselves.

* Cassius Ceramix in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and the Big Fight'' is one played for laughs: he forces his village to adhere to Roman customs to an absurd degree (for example, he orders an aqueduct to be built in the village despite a river running right through it. When someone points this out, he orders that the river be ''diverted'' because "aqueducts are more ROMAN!") and addresses the Roman [[VillainOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] as "our beloved invaders."
* ComicBook/TheFlash's father Rudy West was revealed to have been an agent of the Manhunters, a race of KnightTemplar alien robots, since before Wally was even born. He tries to recruit Wally to his cause, but obviously he isn't interested. And then as soon as the Manhunters are beaten, [[DirtyCoward he fakes his death]], only resurfacing during the ''next'' alien invasion (this time ostensibly on Earth's side).

* In ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', [[spoiler:Hawley Griffin betrays the group and sides with the Martians. He plans on becoming the ruler of the earth along with the Martians, to ensure his own [[DramaticIrony survival]]. He]] ends up ''first against the wall'', beaten and raped to death by [[SociopathicHero one of the good guys]].
* In ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'' the Skrulls plan to set up local Governors. Moonstone claims to be one, asking the Skrulls for control of South America if she helps them. However, this is a trick.
* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', most of Dr. Eggman's Egg Bosses are this to some degree. The biggest example, however, is Mordred Hood, who sold out his nation just so Eggman would put him in charge.

* Puyi, the [[PuppetKing "emperor"]] of "Manchukuo", the Japanese puppet state in UsefulNotes/{{Manchuria}}. He quickly found he didn't much care for the job and was constantly at odds with the Japanese and their exploitative zaibatsu corporations; the only reason he took it on was that the Japanese wanted a monarchist Quisling to rule the northeast, and he happened to be the only candidate for the job (having previously been the legitimate [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Qing Dynasty]] Emperor of China before the [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors Xinhai Revolution]]). After the war, he was imprisoned by the Soviets, then handed over to Communist China. He was then imprisoned by them and finally released after ten years, now a very humbled and devoted Communist. He lived out a relatively normal life afterward. He married his fourth wife, wrote his autobiography, and gave interviees before dying of natural causes at the age 61.

[[TropeNamers Named]] after Vidkun Quisling, who assisted the Germans in their conquest and occupation of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.[[note]]Prior to this, Quisling was known for helping Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen in humanitarian work for the Russian famine as well as Armenian genocide survivors. So not only was he a traitor to his nation, he became a traitor to ''humanity''.[[/note]] The Quisling is the poster person of LesCollaborateurs, who appears whenever one country or culture is being conquered, occupied, or colonized by another, whether it be a human EvilEmpire, an AlienInvasion, an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI uprising]], TheLegionsOfHell, or some other foreign enemy. They do everything possible to curry favor with the new rulers - they speak the invaders' language more often than their own, ape the foreign customs, and refer to their hometown as [[PleaseSelectNewCityName New Invaderia]], AirstripOne, or {{Egopolis}} instead of Freedomville. They might justify this on the grounds that by [[InternalReformist securing a position of power and influence]], they can ensure the occupation is as painless and least oppressive as possible -- this may be genuine or [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist an excuse to grab power]]. Sometimes, this person [[FaceHeelTurn will have been a friend]] of the heroes before the invasion, but will often be someone who had always [[CommanderContrarian given our heroes a hard time]]. Often, they will also try to make them "see reason" and stop their futile attempts to restore the old regime. Frequently has elements of the ObstructiveBureaucrat or TheDragon. When conversing with the conquering leaders they will probably be OpinionFlipflop personified.

* "[[http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/braytext.htm The Vicar of Bray]]" cheerfully recounts the TitleCharacter's unending deference to whoever is power.

--> ''If you are a Filipino, whether in government or private sector, regardless of your politics, defending and making excuses for China’s aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic, and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people.''

* The first against the wall when the revolution ''ends'', as the newly freed heroes are only too eager to convict the heinous traitor in a court of law (or just [[VigilanteExecution lynch them in the street]]). This is what happened to the historical Quisling, as the Norwegians ''re-instituted the death penalty just to apply it to him.''

Note that "Quisling" is rarely heard in the United States. This is because Americans have their own term for the same thing. See RealLife, below.

Their storyline tends to end in one of a handful of ways:

[[TropeNamers Named]] after [[NeverLiveItDown Vidkun Quisling]], who assisted the Germans in their conquest and occupation of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]Prior to this, Quisling was known for helping Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen in humanitarian work for the Russian famine as well as Armenian genocide survivors. So not only was he a traitor to his nation, he became a traitor to ''humanity''.[[/note]] The Quisling is the poster person of LesCollaborateurs, who appears whenever one country or culture is being conquered, occupied, or colonized by another, whether it be a human EvilEmpire, an AlienInvasion, an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI uprising]], TheLegionsOfHell, or some other foreign enemy. They do everything possible to curry favor with the new rulers - they speak the invaders' language more often than their own, ape the foreign customs, and refer to their hometown as [[PleaseSelectNewCityName New Invaderia]], AirstripOne, or {{Egopolis}} instead of Freedomville. They might justify this on the grounds that by [[InternalReformist securing a position of power and influence]], they can ensure the occupation is as painless and least oppressive as possible -- this may be genuine or [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist an excuse to grab power]]. Sometimes, this person [[FaceHeelTurn will have been a friend]] of the heroes before the invasion, but will often be someone who had always [[CommanderContrarian given our heroes a hard time]]. Often, they will also try to make them "see reason" and stop their futile attempts to restore the old regime. Frequently has elements of the ObstructiveBureaucrat or TheDragon. When conversing with the conquering leaders they will probably be OpinionFlipflop personified.

[[TropeNamers Named]] after [[NeverLiveItDown Vidkun Quisling]], who assisted the Germans in their conquest and occupation of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]Prior to this, Quisling was known for helping Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen in humanitarian work for the Russian famine as well as Armenian genocide survivors. So not only was he a traitor to his nation, he became a traitor to ''humanity''.[[/note]], The Quisling is the poster person of LesCollaborateurs, who appears whenever one country or culture is being conquered, occupied, or colonized by another, whether it be a human EvilEmpire, an AlienInvasion, an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI uprising]], TheLegionsOfHell, or some other foreign enemy. They do everything possible to curry favor with the new rulers - they speak the invaders' language more often than their own, ape the foreign customs, and refer to their hometown as [[PleaseSelectNewCityName New Invaderia]], AirstripOne, or {{Egopolis}} instead of Freedomville. They might justify this on the grounds that by [[InternalReformist securing a position of power and influence]], they can ensure the occupation is as painless and least oppressive as possible -- this may be genuine or [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist an excuse to grab power]]. Sometimes, this person [[FaceHeelTurn will have been a friend]] of the heroes before the invasion, but will often be someone who had always [[CommanderContrarian given our heroes a hard time]]. Often, they will also try to make them "see reason" and stop their futile attempts to restore the old regime. Frequently has elements of the ObstructiveBureaucrat or TheDragon. When conversing with the conquering leaders they will probably be OpinionFlipflop personified.

[[TropeNamers Named]] after [[NeverLiveItDown Vidkun Quisling]], who assisted the Germans in their conquest and occupation of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]Prior to this, he was known for helping Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen in humanitarian work during the Armenian Genocide and Russian famine. So not only was he a traitor to his nation, he became a traitor to ''humanity''.[[/note]], The Quisling is the poster person of LesCollaborateurs, who appears whenever one country or culture is being conquered, occupied, or colonized by another, whether it be a human EvilEmpire, an AlienInvasion, an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI uprising]], TheLegionsOfHell, or some other foreign enemy. They do everything possible to curry favor with the new rulers - they speak the invaders' language more often than their own, ape the foreign customs, and refer to their hometown as [[PleaseSelectNewCityName New Invaderia]], AirstripOne, or {{Egopolis}} instead of Freedomville. They might justify this on the grounds that by [[InternalReformist securing a position of power and influence]], they can ensure the occupation is as painless and least oppressive as possible -- this may be genuine or [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist an excuse to grab power]]. Sometimes, this person [[FaceHeelTurn will have been a friend]] of the heroes before the invasion, but will often be someone who had always [[CommanderContrarian given our heroes a hard time]]. Often, they will also try to make them "see reason" and stop their futile attempts to restore the old regime. Frequently has elements of the ObstructiveBureaucrat or TheDragon. When conversing with the conquering leaders they will probably be OpinionFlipflop personified.

[[TropeNamers Named]] after [[NeverLiveItDown Vidkun Quisling]], who assisted the Germans in their conquest and occupation of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[note]]prior to this, he was known for helping explorer Fritjof Nansen in humanitarian work during the Armenian Genocide and Russian famine. So not only was he a traitor to his nation, he became a traitor to ''humanity''.[[/note]], The Quisling is the poster person of LesCollaborateurs, who appears whenever one country or culture is being conquered, occupied, or colonized by another, whether it be a human EvilEmpire, an AlienInvasion, an [[AIIsACrapshoot AI uprising]], TheLegionsOfHell, or some other foreign enemy. They do everything possible to curry favor with the new rulers - they speak the invaders' language more often than their own, ape the foreign customs, and refer to their hometown as [[PleaseSelectNewCityName New Invaderia]], AirstripOne, or {{Egopolis}} instead of Freedomville. They might justify this on the grounds that by [[InternalReformist securing a position of power and influence]], they can ensure the occupation is as painless and least oppressive as possible -- this may be genuine or [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist an excuse to grab power]]. Sometimes, this person [[FaceHeelTurn will have been a friend]] of the heroes before the invasion, but will often be someone who had always [[CommanderContrarian given our heroes a hard time]]. Often, they will also try to make them "see reason" and stop their futile attempts to restore the old regime. Frequently has elements of the ObstructiveBureaucrat or TheDragon. When conversing with the conquering leaders they will probably be OpinionFlipflop personified.

* One of the reasons why the beatification of Croatian archbishop [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_Stepinac Aloysius Stepinac]] is divisive among Catholics is that he has been accused of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_clergy_involvement_with_the_Ustaše being this]] to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustasha the Ustasha]], the horrifyingly brutal Nazi-inspired group that ruled Croatia during UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo. His defenders say that he ''initially'' welcomed the Independent State of Croatia, but by 1942 he had started to openly condemn the Nazi-aligned state's atrocities against Jews and Serbs, and even spoke against the Ustasha in public, but was unable to do a lot to help the Ustasha's victims.

* In one of the greatest ironies of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini ended up becoming one himself during the Italian Campaign in the later years of the conflict. Early in the war, he had been the very first fascist dictator to rise to power, eleven whole years before UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, and he'd had plans to carve out a "new Roman Empire" across the Mediterranean, for which he would inevitably need Quislings of his own. However, the Allies and his own monumental incompetence thwarted those plans and in 1943, the Allies singled him out to be the first Axis leader to fall. After the invasion of Sicily, with the Italian people angry and fed up with him, Mussolini was overthrown by King Victor Emmanuel III and General Badoglio, who signed an armistice that effectively saw Italy change sides and join the Allies. The Nazis didn't like that and ordered the troops they had in the country to take Italy back. German commandos freed Mussolini from his prison and he was appointed head of the "Italian Social Republic", or RSI. However, the RSI was just a puppet state for the Nazis, with Mussolini and his fellow Italian fascists now fully subservient to Hitler and the ''Wehrmacht''. Mussolini was so hated by his own people that when he was finally recaptured near the end of the war, he was executed by firing squad and his body was unceremoniously strung up in public.

* In one of the greatest ironies of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini ended up becoming one himself during the Italian Campaign in the later years of the conflict. Early in the war, he had been the very first fascist dictator to rise to power, eleven whole years before UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and his Nazi Party [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany did the same in Germany]], and he'd had plans to carve out a "new Roman Empire" across the Mediterranean, for which he would inevitably need Quislings of his own. However, the Allies and his own monumental incompetence thwarted those plans and in 1943, the Allies singled him out to be the first Axis leader to fall. After the invasion of Sicily, with the Italian people angry and fed up with him, Mussolini was overthrown by King Victor Emmanuel III and General Badoglio, who signed an armistice that effectively saw Italy change sides and join the Allies. The Nazis didn't like that and ordered the troops they had in the country to take Italy back. German commandos freed Mussolini from his prison and he was appointed head of the "Italian Social Republic", or RSI. However, the RSI was just a puppet state for the Nazis, with Mussolini and his fellow Italian fascists now fully subservient to Hitler and the ''Wehrmacht''. Mussolini was so hated by his own people that when he was finally recaptured near the end of the war, he was executed by firing squad and his body was unceremoniously strung up in public.