Chris Wallace Already Abandoning CNN, But His Career Change Is Completely Absurd

Three years ago, Chris Wallace walked away from Fox News over concerns that those at the “Fair and Balanced” network were beginning to, as he put it, “question the truth.”

With no small degree of irony, he landed at CNN, that noted citadel of truth-telling. His tenure began inauspiciously, as he was tapped to be the biggest name on a streaming service, CNN+, that didn’t even last as long as Chevy Chase’s infamous late-night show and drew less viewers, to boot.

Since then, Wallace has been kicking around CNN in various capacities and looking supremely bored while he’s at it. After three years of that, he’s ready for change — and, yet again, it looks like a catastrophic career move.

According to The Daily Beast, Wallace announced Monday that he was leaving the network to go into streaming and/or podcasting — which is, he says, “where the action seems to be.”

“The stunning decision by Wallace to walk away from CNN at the end of his three-year, seven-figure contract, rather than to renegotiate it, is a watershed moment for cable TV,” the Daily Beast noted.

“It comes as other anchors face being fired or having salaries cut as declining ratings and cord-cutting hit the industry’s bottom line.”

Wallace will probably be best remembered for his election night coverage on CNN this year, in which he drove a stake through the hearts of millions of former Chris Cuomo/Don Lemon stans by noting that, if the exit poll numbers held, Kamala Harris would need a “miracle” to pull the election off. (The Deity chose not to intervene on the veep’s behalf, as you may have heard.)

“This is the first time in 55 years I’ve been between jobs,” Wallace said. “I am actually excited and liberated by that.”

As for streaming or podcasting or, you know, whatever, he said, “Not knowing is part of the challenge. I’m waiting to see what comes over the transom. It might be something that I haven’t thought of at all.”

And, as for his former employer: “I have nothing but positive things to say. CNN has been very good to me.”

I mean, except for that whole CNN+ kerfuffle.

“Chris Wallace is one of the most respected political journalists in the news business, with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming,” CNN CEO and Chairman Mark Thompson said in a statement.

“We want to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he’s brought to all his work at CNN and to wish him the very best for the future.”

Look, I’m sure Chris Wallace is not exactly hurting for cash; his dad was legendary TV journalist Mike Wallace, and Wallace fils has managed pretty well in a career that goes back to 1973. Unless he’s made some bad investments, Chris could probably pursue a secret passion for macramé, open a store on Etsy, and live like a pasha for the rest of his earthly existence.

However, there’s something to be said for going out on top — or at least going out with dignity — if you’re a public figure. That’s part of what motivated his move to CNN, remember; he left his old employer, where he hosted the Sunday morning public affairs show, because he “no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox.”

“I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion,” Wallace said in an interview with The New York Times in 2022. “But when people start to question the truth — ‘Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection?’ — I found that unsustainable.”

Let’s ignore the failure of CNN+, hilarious though it may be. He’ll go out having done election coverage for a network that spent the waning days of the 2024 campaign vigorously pushing the blatant lie that Donald Trump said Liz Cheney should face a firing squad and where one panelist suggested, after The Donald won, that Joe Biden should abdicate the presidency to make Harris the 47th, and first female, president, in part because it would screw up Trump’s merch sales.

He felt comfortable with that? Well, if not, he didn’t mention in his departure. And that brings us to another problem: Wallace going to streaming/podcasting.

In the Daily Beast piece, writer Hugh Dougherty said that Wallace “highlighted how podcasters including Joe Rogan and Charlamagne tha God had set the agenda during the presidential election, but added, ‘I don’t flatter myself to think I will have that sort of reach.’”

That’s a late contender for understatement of the year. I like Chris Wallace more than I do most establishment media drones, but let’s be realistic: This is a 77-year-old man who could plausibly pass as his own Madame Tussauds wax statue. You may not like Rogan or Charlamagne, depending on your political bearings, but neither is boring or predictable.

Meanwhile, Wallace doing podcasting and streaming sounds a whole lot like your atherosclerotic dad trying skateboarding for the first time in his 80s to lose a bit of weight — and then posting videos of his progress on TikTok. Perhaps Wallace manages some level of success in this twilight venture, but my guess is that “cringe” won’t even begin to cover how bad this is going to go.

And just think: He could have stuck it out at “Fox News Sunday,” retired in peace, and opened that Etsy storefront. But, no. He had to leave in a huff because things weren’t establishment-y enough for him. You hate to see it, you really do.

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