Chris Wallace drew some placing 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 risky resentment of the justice system.
The veteran information anchor argues in his new e-book “Countdown 1960” that Nixon’s loss within the 1960 presidential election in opposition to John F. Kennedy solely emboldened him to resort to extra ruthless ways, which he equated with Trump on MSNBC’s “Inside With Jen Psaki.”
“Nixon had a reputation as being a dirty politician,” Wallace advised the previous White Home press secretary on her present, 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 misplaced the 1960 election by one of many thinnest margins in U.S. historical past. After profitable the presidency almost a decade later, he engaged in unlawful wiretapping on the Watergate Lodge to stop that from taking place once more — and resigned when this turned public.
Whereas there are numerous origin tales for the Joker throughout the character’s historical past, the newest iteration on-screen considerations a downtrodden citizen whose sense of societal unfairness sees him impress a military of equally dejected residents to chaotic outcomes.
Kevin Dietsch through Getty Photos
Wallace argued Monday that the “very bad impact” of Watergate was solely doable as a consequence of Nixon’s perception that “Kennedy stole the election from me,” and prompt Watergate would possibly pale to what Trump would possibly do if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
He has already laid the groundwork to problem the outcomes 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 advised Psaki.
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