Dinesh D’Souza rides the zeitgeist like a California surfer.
The pundit’s “2000 Mules” tackled election integrity worries tied to the 2020 election. Last year’s “Police State” described how America resembles a Soviet-style nation.
Now, he’s exploring not just Donald Trump’s final fight for the White House but the powers bent on taking him down.
“Vindicating Trump” is as rah-rah as you might expect from D’Souza. This time, he expands his use of scripted scenes with surprisingly funny results.
Said elements prove sharper than expected, but they aren’t the snug fit the narrative demands.
The docudrama fuses traditional talking head segments with fictional tales of Democrats in action. D’Souza interviews Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair.
Together, they break down the real estate mogul’s appeal and plans for a second term.
We’re also deposited behind enemy lines at Democratic headquarters. This fictional element expands on a narrative device D’Souza deployed in “Police State.” Once again, actor Nick Searcy plays aggressively against type as a take-no-prisoners political operative.
The film also gets face time with the 78-year-old leader.
President Trump offers insight into his political aspirations as well as his views on the first attempt on his life. How tragic that we now need to qualify assassination attempts by number.
Filmmaker @DineshDSouza’s new movie, “Vindicating Trump,” opens in theaters Friday.
Dinesh spoke with me about the film, which he calls his most urgent and important project yet.@DailySignal just released our interview. Watch or read the transcript: https://t.co/dQP88LxO2b pic.twitter.com/Dz7zWOZMJY
— Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) September 27, 2024
The scripted sequences prove punchy and tart, partly due to Searcy’s gravitas. D’Souza snagged a few comic ringers to make the punch lines pop, including Babylon Bee regulars Jarret LeMaster and Siaka Massaquoi. Christian comic Brad Stine gets in a few feisty licks, too.
The problem? The sequences undercut the film’s serious arguments. It also gives ideology critics a cudgel with which to hammer D’Souza.
A troubling detour finds D’Souza suggesting election ballots can be printed by Joe or Jane Sixpack for a tiny fee, at best, and used to contort the will of the people. The charges are incendiary and demand more screen time, if not a separate, feature-length film.
“2000 Mules” got caught unfairly castigating a Georgia man, causing Salem Media to yank that film from its digital shelves. Given that context, the ballot scenes land awkwardly.
A smattering of local news clips detailing ballot integrity woes helps his argument. That approach should have been used throughout the film.
The election scenes overlap with “Vindicating Trump’s” core conceit. Democrats will seemingly do anything to prevent Trump from securing a second term.
Sound conspiratorial? Remember the Steele Dossier? Endless lawfare? Is ballot fraud a bridge too far?
The film raises so many questions that demand answers, feeding into our conspiratorial age. Remember how deftly D’Souza rides the zeitgeist?
“Vindicating Trump” is pure D’Souza in many ways. It’s unabashedly one-sided. The film’s narratives are ingeniously crafted for red-meat appeal. And the author-turned-filmmaker’s visuals have never been sharper.
The film looks great, a sign of not just D’Souza’s growing strength as a storyteller but the conservative space’s cinematic maturity.
None of that will convince skeptics to watch, let alone engage with “Vindicating Trump.” The MAGA infomercial is for those who bought a red campaign hat in 2016 and never took it off.
HiT or Miss: “Vindicating Trump” offers a worthy counter-balance to the constant anti-Trump media landscape, but the use of fictional asides undercuts the gravity of the message.
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