Chris Wallace Likens Donald Trump's 'Dangerous Character' To This Fictional Villain

Chris Wallace drew some striking parallels Monday between the “origin story” of former Presidents Donald Trump and Richard Nixon and the Joker — whose anarchist ethos as a fictional Batman villain Wallace likened to Trump’s volatile resentment of the justice system.

The veteran news anchor argues in his new book “Countdown 1960” that Nixon’s loss in the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy only emboldened him to resort to more ruthless tactics, which he equated with Trump on MSNBC’s “ Inside With Jen Psaki .”

“Nixon had a reputation as being a dirty politician,” Wallace told the former White House press secretary on her show, per Mediaite . “That’s where he got the nickname Tricky Dick. But, in 1960, he decided to run as a statesman to try to put that all behind him.”

“And some people have suggested to me that maybe his defeat in 1960 and how nicely he played was the origin story of the villain, sort of like the origin story of the Joker,” he continued. “And, clearly, in some of the Watergate tapes, you can hear his anger and his bitterness.”

Nixon lost the 1960 election by one of the thinnest margins in U.S. history . After winning the presidency nearly a decade later, he engaged in illegal wiretapping at the Watergate Hotel to prevent that from happening again — and resigned when this became public .

While there are countless origin stories for the Joker across the character’s history, the latest iteration on-screen concerns a downtrodden citizen whose sense of societal unfairness sees him galvanize an army of similarly dejected citizens to chaotic results.

Wallace argued Monday that the “very bad impact” of Watergate was only possible due to Nixon’s belief that “Kennedy stole the election from me,” and suggested Watergate might pale to what Trump might do if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in November.

He has already laid the groundwork to challenge the results if he loses.

“I think it’s definitely — you could say Trump was already a dangerous character before, but, clearly, losing the 2020 election has not improved his sense of fair play or thinking about the country over his own personal benefit,” he told Psaki.

Trump has continually cast doubt on the 2020 election results and, despite being indicted on election interference charges in 2023 and suggesting he’d unleash the U.S. military on his opponents if he wins, is tracking Harris by only a couple points .

Early voting in the election, by mail and in person, has already begun in several states.