Chris Wallace to Colbert: US hasn’t seen this level of unrest since 1968

Fox News’s Chris Wallace told CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert that the United States hasn’t been this tumultuous since 1968, with the “Fox News Sunday” anchor adding that the state of 2020 may be worse due to the “added feature” of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Have you ever seen anything like the moment we’re going through right now?” Colbert asked Wallace as his first question.  

“The only year that comes to mind is 1968,” Wallace replied. “The Vietnam war was raging, Lyndon B. Johnson said he wasn’t running for reelection, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the protests and cities on fire, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, and the protests on the streets of Chicago during the Democratic convention.” 

Wallace added that the current year was also different due to the “added feature” of the “pandemic and the economic collapse that came with it.”  

“Well, another added feature for 2020 is you have all these retired military coming out and expressing their criticism, their distress, their dismay at the behavior of our present president,” Colbert noted, citing recent scathing remarks by former Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen.

Later in the interview, Colbert read back some tweets from the president highly critical of Wallace.

Just watched Mike Wallace wannabe, Chris Wallace, on @FoxNews. I am now convinced that he is even worse than Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Meet the Press(please!), or the people over at Deface the Nation. What the hell is happening to @FoxNews. It’s a whole new ballgame over there!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2020

“Does it make you feel good when this happens? Because if a journalist makes the comfortable uncomfortable, and the powerful a little bit on edge, haven’t you done your job?” Colbert asked.

“Yes, generally speaking, I would agree with that,” Wallace replied, adding that “both sides” become angry with his reporting and perspective periodically.