Dinesh D'Souza- A liar lyingly lying his lying lies to those who hate the truth
Because telling the truth is just too damned much work for lazy cretins like D'Souza
I haven’t written about Dinesh D’Souza in a while. Quite frankly, he bores me. He fancies himself a Conservative intellectual when there would be no discernible brainwave activity if you hooked him up to an EKG monitor. Whenever he’s released any project, whether printed or visual, his research is shoddy, his arguments facile, and his final product childish to the point of being intellectually insulting.
Yet he somehow manages to get financing for his projects and is inevitably regaled as a refreshing Conservative intellectual dim bulb bright light. D’Souza lacks the intellectual candlepower to fuel a Matchbox car, much less a project intended to influence Conservative thought. Somehow, though, he manages to find a wealthy benefactor to put up the money for his dog-and-pony shows.
His latest project, the 2022 documentary 2000 Mules, has been pulled from distribution channels for being 51% lies and 49% pure, unadulterated bullshit. Shocked- SHOCKED- I am that D’Souza was busted for spreading lies, bullshit, and Right-wing propaganda across the land. Yeah, who could’ve seen that coming, eh?
Not to say I told you so, but….
Salem Media Group (little on the nose there, no?), the right-wing Christian media company that produced Dinesh D’Souza’s 2022 documentary 2000 Mules, has issued an apology for all of the lies pushed in it and pulled it from all platforms. So, if you haven’t seen 2000 Mules yet and really want to, you’ll probably have to pry it out of your great uncle’s cold, dead VCR.
To refresh your memory, 2000 Mules was not some kind of David Attenborough-esque look into the fascinating world of the mules who carry people around the Grand Canyon, but rather an entirely fictional exposé into the election workers D’Souza was convinced — or rather, tried to convince others — rigged the election.
It was a huge hit among the kind of people who were desperate to believe that the 2020 election was stolen from them and also not at all bothered by being told outright lies.
That is to say, 2000 Mules was a YUUUGE hit among those who’d already swallowed the Big Lie hook, line, and sinker and were more than happy to have their bias confirmed, which happens to be D’Souza’s specialty.
It beats doing the hard work of doing actual research and chasing down the truth, eh? D’Souza starts with a propaganda premise and then crafts his project to prove his conclusion—which is a backasswards approach to anything meant to have any sort of intellectual impact.
I didn’t see 2000 Mules (are you kidding me?) because I’m not into Right-wing propaganda and I saw no reason to waste my time. Still, Salem Media Group had a “come to Jesus” moment when presented with the reality that they bore significant liability for distributing the vehicle that was little more than D’Souza’s ridiculous lies about the 2020 Presidential election.
In the real world, people can get hurt when others take such propaganda to heart and decide to act upon it.
“In publishing the film and the book,” the company said in a press release, “we relied on representations made to us by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote, Inc. ("TTV") that the individuals depicted in the videos provided to us by TTV, including Mr. Andrews, illegally deposited ballots. We have learned that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has cleared Mr. Andrews of illegal voting activity in connection with the event depicted in 2000 Mules.”
“It was never our intent that the publication of the 2000 Mules film and book would harm Mr. Andrews,” they continued. “We apologize for the hurt the inclusion of Mr. Andrews’ image in the movie, book, and promotional materials have caused Mr. Andrews and his family. We have removed the film from Salem’s platforms, and there will be no future distribution of the film or the book by Salem.”
The translation for any non-legal minds out there:
“PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE don’t make us pay a YUUUUGE defamation settlement. Pretty please?? We have a business to run, propaganda to peddle, and families to feed.”
Why would publishing video of a man depositing ballots for himself and his family, with voiceover intoning he is doing “a crime” and “these are fraudulent votes,” harm Mr. Andrews? Who could even imagine that?
Oh right, everyone, given how absolutely rabid and violent Trump supporters were over what they believed was a stolen election. I mean, we saw what they did on January 6.
Yeah, and as we saw on January 6, rabid Trump supporters are fucking mental and perfectly capable of intense and horrific violence.
Although, even more likely, it sure does read like a defamation-suit mandated apology, since Salem Media presumably does not want to have to fork over nearly a billion dollars, like Fox News was forced to with Dominion Voting Services, for just about exactly the same sort of libel.
Still, it’s nice for Mark Andrews to get some vindication after everything he’s been through. Perhaps they’ll even think twice before ruining nice people’s lives with easily disprovable lies? (They probably will not.)
I hope Mark Andrews took Salem Media Group for everything they had, down to the kneepads and lipstick in the CEO’s office. Of course, no one can state with certainty what Salem’s intentions were, but they participated in activities that resulted in actual harm to someone and their family based on documented lies.
Though I didn’t go to law school, that is what I believe law professors call “a defamation suit looking for a place to happen.”
One can’t allege a conspiracy in printed or visual material without evidence supporting their claim. The 1st Amendment may be expansive, but it doesn’t condone slander, and what Dinesh D’Souza did was to slander Mark Andrews, who did nothing illegal, immoral, or untoward. Thanks to D’Souza, however, many now believe otherwise and are convinced that Andrews was involved in “The Big Steal.”
Before anyone begins to feel sympathy for Salem Media Group, we should remember that they also produce shows for Charlie Kirk, Todd Starnes, and Dennis Prager—all inveterate liars and self-proclaimed “Christians.” Each of these intellectual and moral nonentities lies as if they had a personal dishonesty license and “Get-out-of-jail-free” card from Jesus Christ His Own Self ©.
Salem Media Group is hardly blameless.
As for Dinesh D’Souza, I don’t expect this to stop him. Conservative liars and propagandists always manage to find funding for whatever project they’re developing. Someone will bankroll him, and he’ll keep on keeping on. He’ll learn precisely nothing from this experience because someone with deep pockets will be behind him.
He’ll continue peddling lie, because that’s what he does. It’s all he does. Same as it ever was.
Because Dinesh D’Souza knows that a lie can circumnavigate the globe and be well into its second lap before the truth manages to drag its sorry, hungover ass out of bed.
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So Salem's excuse is that they had no idea the guy serving 5 yrs probation for campaign finance fraud was anything less than completely sincere and meticulously thorough with his fact checking?