Death of a Nation

I have made no secret on here of my disdain for the documentary efforts of Dinesh D’Souza.  My experience with his work started with America: Imagine the World without Her, which decried “revisionist” efforts to make American history in any way negative, all the while not actually imagining a world without the US.  Then came the shitshow that was (and is) Hillary’s America, sporting the surtitle The Secret History of the Democratic Party.  Throughout this nonsense pile, we’re told how evil the Democratic Party was back in the day, how nothing at all has changed politically since, and how these facts have somehow been either hidden or supressed by those on The Left (even though I learned of these things back in, if memory serves, elementary school, much like my parents before me).  Oh, and he set himself up as a massive martyr for being convicted on campaign finance laws, an act he saw (and still sees) as an effort by The Left to silence opponents.  Nevermind that no one took him too seriously at that time, of course, he’s just an honest victim of devious political machinations looking to squash any dissenting voice.  Poor baby.

His style through these films has been flimsy at best, much like his grasp of history and politics, heavily utilizing awkward re-enactments and a blatant disregard for sense and sanity.  So long as his agenda gets preached, he’s happy; if you disagree, you’re part of the Evil Leftist Conspiracy to Ruin and Destroy America (trademark pending).  Which brings us to Death of a Nation.

As per usual, I was drawn in by a number of superficial factors:  1) Just look at that poster! 2) It’s a new Dinesh D’Souza bullshit fest! 3) Check out this IMDb summary: “This documentary draws parallels between the dramatic fracturing of the nation over Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and the presidency of Donald Trump.”  Gotta see this!  How could I not?  Call me masochistic or crazy.

Turns out, that summary is barely part of the film.  We begin in Hitler’s bunker, bombs dropping on Berlin, as Hitler and Eva Braun kill themselves.  “Okay,” thought I, nearly aloud, “where are we going with this?”  Putting aside the fact that the acting was worse than the dregs of Rescue 911, I was perplexed, yet intrigued.  Then we get a spiel about how D’Souza has been fascinated with why some nations thrive and others die, using Nazi Germany as a visual example.  Hate to break it to ya, Dinesh, but the German nation persists: you may or may not have heard of a place called, I think, “Germany”, yeah?

Then the initial comparison between Trump and Lincoln comes into play:  According to D’Souza, the last time The Left (or Democrats, anyway) threw such a shit-fit over the election of a Republican president was when Lincoln came into office.  He then states that those who oppose Trump are only interested in destroying America and all American things we true Americans care about.  He brags that Hillary’s America was a force in getting the man elected (get off your own dick, buddy, something I’m gonna haveta say later, too, sadly), claims that the assertion that Trump lost the popular vote is a hideous Leftist rumor, that The Left is only interested in violence and anger (don’t get me started, bucko), and waves away any of Trump’s faults with “We knew we weren’t electing a saint”.

Then comes the bulk of the film, a massive digression into the history of fascism and nazism and their parallels with the Democratic Party and Progressive politics of the era.  The whole purpose of this section is to refute the idea that fascism is a right-wing concept, thus “proving” that Trump can’t be fascist, despite what the Mainstream Media and The Left would have you believe.  Just as in Hillary’s America and parts of America, D’Souza denounces the terrible policies of Jackson, of Wilson, of Roosevelt, and rightly so, they did plenty of heinous things, and then proceeds to underline that these were Democrat policies and that nothing has changed in the party since its inception.  The Big Switch?  Once again, a lie, a fabrication.  Nevermind the obvious cultural and political signs, very few Dixiecrats actually changed parties, thus no change ever happened.  In fact, he goes so far as to say that any connection between the Nazis and the Italian Fascists and the Democrats has been purposely wiped away and smokescreened as part of a Leftist cabal out to distort and hide the truth.  Thankfully, I guess, Dinesh is here to uncover The Truth, don’tcha know.

During this segment, D’Souza makes the claim that Hitler wasn’t anti-gay.  Hey, don’t worry about the whole pink triangle thing, that’s just Leftist propaganda trying to cover their tracks.  The Left’s pushes for things like gun control, abortion, and socialized medicine are all attacked via proximity with Nazi platforms and actions, so those are wrong and bad, too.  See, The Right and Trump aren’t fascist, The Left is.  Things like racism, Jim Crow, eugenics, attacks on religion, all of it is part of the Leftist, Nazi-leaning agenda, ’cause the Democrats favored those things nearly a century ago and change just does not happen, guys.

D’Souza constantly brings up that Trump isn’t fascist, he’s a nationalist, an appellation he also applied to Mussolini and Hitler (and Gandhi, for that matter), but Trump is somehow different from them, ’cause he’s not Leftist.  Don’t worry about the appropriation of American symbols (think of the explosion of the waving of the American flag during the War on Terror), the definition of a “True American” (I myself was called anti-American because I didn’t favor the war in Iraq, and I was only in high school), the destabilizing push to rattle the sabers and proclaim the eternal greatness of the American nation over all others (America First, amiright), those aren’t potentially bad things, those aren’t also analogs to the efforts of the fascists of old, no, this is fine, and you should support Trump in all of this.

The rest of the film is a basic rehash of Hillary’s America, continuing the polemics of “Democrats were bad and nothing has changed, so fuck the Democrats, everybody!” without a shred of self-awareness or shame.  He takes every word an evil Democrat has ever said as gospel, while Trump, co-opting certain demographics to get ahead (particularly his very recent religious statements), is always taken as earnest and genuine.  He drags Richard Spencer into things, attempting to distance the man from Trump by showing that they disagree a lot, you guys, and he sure sounds more Leftist than Trump-ish.  Sure, just disregard Spencer’s support for Trump throughout the campaign and after, he’s just a crazy Leftist, obviously.  We get another bit with Wilson watching Birth of a Nation in the White House in complete rapture, in what looks like footage lifted from Hillary’s America, but we’re left without him following a spectral klansman through the Rose Garden, the best part of that prior film.  And we get more of D’Souza’s martyr complex, once again claiming his felony conviction was an act of political sabotage, ’cause we can’t forget the overwhelming importance of Dinesh D’Souza, can we?  Gag me.

The overarching message is that The Left is the true source of fascism (see as political correctness, you guys), of racism, of political and cultural divide, of country-wide weakness and meanness, of violence, of everything bad.  The Democrats are basically evil incarnate, and clearly has been since its inception from which it has never changed at all, and the Republicans and those who identify as conservative are the forces for good and harmony, much like they always have been since the days of Lincoln.  Nothing changes, The Left is bad, The Right (especially Trump) is good, go forth and preach.

At least he’s not trying to be subtle, but he thinks he’s being clever and intelligent with all of this.  Like what we’ve heard from the White House recently, what we’re seeing and hearing is all a lie, unless Trump says it; everything is a vast conspiracy to destroy Trump and, in the process, destroy America.  Sorry, Dinesh, but the United States of America as a country will continue to exist without Trump, and shit definitely changes (and has).  You don’t have to agree with everybody on everything, believe you me, but shit like this film just begs to be not only disagreed with, but academically pilloried.  The entire conceit of D’Souza’s recent filmography is a fucking joke, built upon a foundation of insecurity and choir-preaching:  There’s no desire to change minds of opponents, just to bolster and reassure those who already agree to some degree.  Is there division in this country?  You betcha.  Is Trump the cure?  Nope, he’s both a cause and the illustration of the ramifications.  Dinesh’s outrageous “history lessons” are utterly meaningless when they disregard the current context of things, and the fact that people buy this garbage is downright terrifying.  Skip this bullshit, we don’t need the purveyors of trash like this to make any more money: their egos are clearly big enough, thanks.  It’s not even funnily entertaining like the previous films, just ponderous, dull, and maddening.  It’s just a waste of time.