Everything seemed to be calm and cool on Twitter this morning – that is until conservative troll and activist Dinesh D’Souza slammed President Barack Obama over a photo from his interview with BuzzFeed.
And yes, racism was involved.
The political pundit posted a photo of Obama with a selfie stick from the BuzzFeed shoot alongside the following tweet:
YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF THE GHETTO…Watch this vulgar man show his stuff, while America cowers in embarrassment pic.twitter.com/C9yLG4QoOK
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 18, 2015
Backlash ensued, as Twitter users defended the president and called out the critic’s criminal past. In 2014, D’Souza was hit with five years probation for violating federal campaign finance laws when he used straw donors during the 2012 election. He also spent eight months in a confinement center and was therefore labeled a convicted felon.
In our great country, even a convicted felon in a halfway house like Dinesh D’Souza is allowed to type stupid racist tweets. — Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) February 18, 2015
A bedraggled Dinesh D’Souza stumbles out of the dark like Eddie King in 5 Heartbeats, hoping we’ll let him troll us just one more time.
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) February 18, 2015
dinesh d’souza also has more of a criminal record than barack obama and his family. but yolo. — Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 18, 2015
To think that Dinesh D’Souza was once considered a serious conservative intellectual https://t.co/F9ZKB6TgYJ
— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) February 18, 2015
D’Souza quickly took back his statements, all while calling Obama supporters “groupies.” While he claimed he knows the president wasn’t raised in the ghetto, he says the statement was meant as a metaphor.
I know Obama wasn’t actually raised in a ghetto–I’m using the term metaphorically, to suggest his unpresidential conduct — Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 18, 2015
TRANSLATING FOR OBAMA GROUPIES: A guy without class doesn’t become a classy guy, even when he’s in the White House
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 18, 2015
THE INDIGNATION BRIGADE: The charge of racism is the first refuge of the liberal scoundrel — Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 18, 2015
D’Souza’s actions don’t come as a surprise. He’s attacked the president several times in books and film. His 2012 documentary, 2016: Obama’s America was based on his 2010 book release, The Roots of Obama’s Rage. The film managed to be the fourth highest grossing documentary since the ’80s and a favorite in conservative circles. His other books include Obama’s America: Unmaking the American Dream, and America: Imagine a World Without Her.
Out of the 16 books the commentator has published, his book on slavery titled The End of Racism showed his support of…yep, you guessed it–slavery.
Here are some tidbits from the text, courtesy of Vox:
- “Was slavery a racist institution? No. Slavery was practiced for thousands of years in virtually all societies … Thus slavery is neither distinctively Western nor racist.”
- “In summary, the American slave was treated like property, which is to say, pretty well.”
- “Am I calling for a repeal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Actually, yes. The law should be changed so that its nondiscrimination provisions apply only to the government.”
- “Segregation … represented a compromise on the part of the Southern ruling elite seeking, in part, to protect blacks.” [Emphasis D’Souza’s.]
- “If racism is not the main problem for blacks, what is? Liberal antiracism.”
- “Racism originated not in ignorance and fear but as part of an enlightened enterprise of intellectual discovery.”
- “The civil rights establishment has a vested interest in the persistence of the underclass.”
He’s also been shunned by the Republican party due to his thoughts on terrorism in the 2007 release, The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. D’Souza shocked conservatives when he claimed he agreed with the Islamic views of the U.S. and western culture.
“Yes I would rather go to a baseball game or have a drink with Michael Moore than with the grand mufti of Egypt. But when it comes to core beliefs, I’d have to confess that I’m closer to the dignified fellow in the long robe and prayer beads than to the slovenly fellow with the baseball cap.”
And in case you missed it, D’Souza still doesn’t believe his tweets were racist.
.@mediaite “Racism” in this context is utterly meaningless & conveys nothing more than: we liberals are offended! http://t.co/U8wF1OThpi
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) February 18, 2015
We’ll just leave you with that.
SOURCE: Vox | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty