Jomshof sparks backlash after calling Lindberg and Andersson quislings

Sweden Democrats MP Richard Jomshof has called Aftonbladet political editor-in-chief Anders Lindberg and Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson “quislings”, drawing criticism from across the political spectrum, SVT reported.

Jomshof, a former chair of the Riksdag’s Justice Committee, called Lindberg “a quisling” in a post on X on Monday. The post came hours after Lindberg shared a video in which he described the possibility of Jomshof becoming the next justice minister as “a nightmare”.

“Opinion journalism is not treason. It is a purely authoritarian approach that he is expressing. I actually think this is dangerous, that people behave in this way,” Lindberg told SVT.

In a text message to SVT, Jomshof said Lindberg had called Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson “von Papen” and had therefore indirectly labelled Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson as Hitler.

“He wrote in 2018 that both von Papen and Quisling had become terms that are used. He uses one for the prime minister and I use the other for him. It is no more complicated than that. He opened the door to this himself,” Jomshof wrote.

Jomshof later also called Andersson a quisling. “They all bow to the Islamists, whose goal is to take our democracy and our country away from us,” he wrote on X.

The comments have prompted strong reactions from both the left and the right. Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch wrote on X that politicians needed to move away from this level of debate.

Criticism also came from the Moderate and Liberal parties. “Jomshof crossed the line, but we do not need to completely lose our heads and present Lindberg as a serious journalist,” wrote Niklas Gillström, chief of staff to Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson, on X.

“Raise your game. The Swedish people deserve an election campaign in which we treat one another with respect, regardless of political colour, and discuss policy,” Liberal Party leader Simona Mohamsson said in a comment to SVT.

The Sweden Democrats’ press office told SVT that Jomshof was clear in his posts on X and that it had nothing further to add. The party later told Expressen that Lindberg was “casting stones in a glass house”.

What does “quisling” mean?

Since the Second World War, “quisling” has been an international term for a traitor, particularly someone who collaborates with an occupying power in their own country. The word comes from Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling, who seized power in Norway with the help of Nazi Germany and served as head of government from 1942 to 1945 during the German occupation.

Quisling was sentenced to death for treason on September 10, 1945, and was later executed.

Franz von Papen was a conservative German politician, diplomat and aristocrat who played a decisive role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. He was charged at the Nuremberg trials but acquitted after the court found that the evidence was insufficient for a conviction on the charges examined. In a subsequent German denazification process, he was sentenced to time in a labour camp, but the ruling was overturned.