CNN’s Chris Wallace Compares Trump ‘Origin Story’ to The Joker — Was ‘Already A Dangerous Character’ When He Got Beaten

CNN anchor Chris Wallace compared former President Donald Trump to the “origin stories” of both The Joker and Richard Nixon, telling MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that Trump was “already a dangerous character” when the trauma of losing to President Joe Biden occurred.

Wallace — who hosts the Max series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace and CNN’s The Chris Wallace Show — has been on an extensive media tour to promote his new book Countdown 1960: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the 312 Days that Changed America’s Politics Forever.

That tour took Wallace to a rival network on Monday’s edition of MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki, during which Wallace drew parallels to the trials and tribulations of Nixon, Trump, and Arthur Fleck — currently lighting up (and darkening) screens in the film Joker: Folie à Deux:

PSAKI: It was such a reminder to me in reading, and I hope to people out there who read it, I mean, I lived through a lot of transitions too. I mean, Bush and Obama didn’t exactly love each other, agree. That was a smooth transition of power. Obama transitioned to Trump. This is what happens throughout history, and this is a reminder of that.

You also note that Nixon’s loss in 1960 led to him to resort to kind of more cutthroat tactics. Obviously, we know that through history, and had played out, which eventually, of course, led to Watergate. Similarly — and I would be interested in what you think about this comparison. Obviously, Trump losing in 2020 has led to, in some ways, a more aggressive approach to this election and what he may want to do post-election.

How do you think in terms of lessons from history, bitterness and anger applies? And how do you think it applies? As it applied to Nixon, how does it apply now?

WALLACE: Well it’s so interesting, Jen, because Nixon had a reputation as being a dirty politician. 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.

And, clearly, in some of the Watergate tapes, you can hear his anger and his bitterness and his sense, hey, Kennedy stole the election from me in 60. All bets are off in terms of what I’m prepared to do, as it turned out, in 1972 with Watergate.

And there’s no question that it had an impact on him, a very bad impact. And I think it’s definitely — you could say Trump was already a dangerous character before, but, clearly, losing the 19 — the 2020 election has not improved his sense of fair play or thinking about the country over his own personal benefit.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki.

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