On Tuesday's Amanpour and Co. on PBS and CNN International, co-host (and former Time managing editor) Walter Isaacson treated viewers of the taxpayer-funded show to hyperbole as he likened Republican supporters of President Donald Trump to those who collaborated with Adolf Hitler during World War ii, deriding them as "quisling enablers of the undermining of democracy." The word, after Norwegian fascist Vidkun Quisling, is defined as "a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country." Apparently, Trump is the enemy force occupying America.
As Isaacson and The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg discussed President Trump's refusal to concede defeat, Goldberg declared that President-elect Joe Biden "is the only person to have won the presidency 15 times," noting that he had just been elected by the Electoral College.
Invoking an article written by The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum last summer, Isaacson dropped a Nazi comparison as he posed: "Well, that reminds me of an article that Anne Applebaum wrote in The Atlantic which said history will judge the complicit. Why is it that so many members of the GOP have become quisling enablers of the undermining of democracy?"
Goldberg speculated that Republicans support Trump because he is popular with their base, and because they do not want to provoke a reaction from the President on Twitter. He then painted Republicans as going over an "anti-democratic cliff." Here's Goldberg:
But, basically, you know, their profession is politics. Their base in their individual congressional districts in their states -- their base is loyal to a great degree to Donald Trump. And you don't go against Donald Trump. So if Donald Trump says, "Follow me off this anti-democratic cliff," some people follow him off the anti-democratic cliff.
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Transcript follows:
PBS and CNN International
Amanpour & Co.
December 15, 2020
JEFFREY GOLDBERG, THE ATLANTIC: The second issue goes to the Electoral College issue that you're talking about. You saw yesterday after this was ratified again and again -- Joe Biden is the only person to have won the presidency 15 times, and he's won it over the last two months. Each time, every time that a lawsuit has been thrown out, every time the Supreme Court says no thank you, he's won again. This is a formal win, I guess you could say, but you saw many Republicans -- including Republican officials -- either uncharitably acknowledge the existence of the Electoral College or still find ways to avoid actually acknowledging that Joe Biden is the legitimate President-elect.
WALTER ISAACSON: Well, that reminds me of an article that Ann Applebaum wrote in The Atlantic which said history will judge the complicit. Why is it that so many members of the GOP have become quisling enablers of the undermining of democracy?
GOLDBERG: Well, I mean, A, we need to ask those Republicans -- those Republican legislators every day what it is that they're doing and get their answers on the record. That's my journalist analysis of the issue, but, you know, we all have our guesses. You know, one, they have discovered that Donald Trump is popular with the base, and they also have discovered that the price of crossing Donald Trump -- ask Bob Corker, ask Jeff Flake, ask, you know, intermittently Ben Sasse and so on. Nobody wants to get crosswise with Donald Trump. He remains the most powerful figure in the Republican party, and he's working very, very hard to maintain that status after January 20th.
I do think sometimes these just sound silly. We underplay the fact that nobody, no human, Republican, Democrat, white, black, otherwise, wants to be excoriated on Twitter all day long. And they're scared of that. But, basically, you know, their profession is politics. Their base in their individual congressional districts in their states -- their base is loyal to a great degree to Donald Trump. And you don't go against Donald Trump. So if Donald Trump says, "Follow me off this anti-democratic cliff," some people follow him off the anti-democratic cliff.
