The following article by Eugene Scott was posted on the Washington Post May 31, 2018:
President Trump has made many high-profile pardons, and is considering more. Here’s what his pardoning strategy says about his view of the legal system. (Jenny Starrs /The Washington Post)
When President Trump pardoned Dinesh D’Souza on Thursday, he was pardoning one of the most inflammatory voices on the right.
The author and frequent critic of liberals pleaded guilty in 2014 to violating federal campaign finance laws and was indicted on charges that he illegally used straw donors to contribute to a Republican Senate candidate in New York in 2012. The Washington Post previously reported that D’Souza was sentenced to five years’ probation, including eight months of living under supervision in San Diego, and a $30,000 fine.
D’Souza, who has written books and directed films attacking former president Barack Obama, claims he was targeted for his conservative views. His supporters, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), conservative activist Candace Owens and the president himself, appear to agree.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!
But D’Souza’s indictment is only part of his personal story. The former Christian college president is as well known for his outlandish comments on social media as he is for his political commentary.
Here’s a sampler of the incidents that earned him that reputation.
1. He called Obama a “boy” from the “ghetto” after Obama filmed a sketch where he took a selfie in the Oval Office.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF THE GHETTO…Watch this vulgar man show his stuff, while America cowers in embarrassment
2. He called Obama a “grown up Trayvon,” in 2013, a reference to the black 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
D’Souza removed the tweet, but Washington Post opinion writer Jonathan Capehart wrote that “its racist implications are beneath contempt.”
3. D’Souza dismissed the activism of survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting because of their youth.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
How interesting to hear students who can’t support themselves for one day giving us lectures about American social policy
4. He then mocked those students after Florida lawmakers voted down a bill to ban assault weapons.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs
Jon Passantino
✔@passantino
AP photo of school shooting survivors watching Florida lawmakers vote down a bill to ban assault weapons https://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeednews/florida-school-shooting?utm_term=.qd63y1bozj#120558094 …
5. He minimized the impact of civil rights activist Rosa Parks’s protest that helped desegregate public transportation.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
OVERRATED DEMOCRATS DEPT: So Rosa Parks wouldn’t sit in the back of the bus–that’s all she did, so what’s the big fuss?
6. He attempted to draw a connection between homosexuality and Nazis.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
The extent of homosexuality among Nazi Brownshirts can be seen in the nickname 1930s Germans used for the group: “Brotherhood of Poofs”
7. He has used the n-word on more than one occasion on social media.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
Do you feel the same way about the term “nigger”?
Seth Rogen
✔@Sethrogen
If you’re offended by someone saying “cracker”, it’s a good indicator that you’re a motherfucking cracker.
8. He accused women advocating for gender equality of being “feminist whiners.”
9. He politicized the Pulse shooting in Orlando while attacking Obama.
Dinesh D’Souza
✔@DineshDSouza
I bet Obama would have preferred that the #FloridaNightclub shooting was perpetrated not by a Muslim but by an angry Christian baker