Dinesh D'Souza Has Exactly One Thing in Common With Sam Cooke

The second coolest thing on Twitter is seeing experts in a field engage in serious, thoughtful, informative discussions about their areas of expertise.

The coolest thing is when, in the process, they eviscerate a buffoon like Dinesh D'Souza.

Convicted felon and habitual grifter Dinesh D'Souza has a movie and a book coming out. This movie and book (they are a package, of course) expose, at long last, a shocking secret that liberals have covered up for decades: in the 1800s, the Democrats supported slavery.

If so, how how come students on campus are consistently amazed when I talk about this? Do a better job & teach this more clearly https://t.co/0i35ueAiuB

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) July 3, 2018

(This is a pretty damning admission from D'Souza about the ignorance of his followers.)

Anyway, having discovered this shocking secret, D'Souza concludes that the Democrats are still secretly the party of slavery. The whole schtick is basically an even-dumber version of Liberal Fascism. And when he's challenged on it, he gets a little defensive.

Okay let’s see a list of the 200 or so racist Dixiecrats who switched parties and became Republicans. Put up or shut up https://t.co/dmXGZKXwne

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) July 2, 2018

Fortunately, there are people who make a living studying history--"historians", if you will--and thus have the expertise to assess D'Souza's claims. And in the last week, they've been doing it with a vengeance.

There's historian Kevin Kruse, author of a book about political shifts in the south, who schools D'Souza on party realignment in this thread:

Sure, let's do this.https://t.co/k6nTwpcYZV

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) July 3, 2018

(Kruse has more excellent threads on the subject.)

There's historian Heather Cox Richardson, author of a history of the GOP, who explains the history of the GOP in this thread:

Seriously? You're going to try this again, after what @KevinMKruse did to you?

OK then. Let's take a look at the history of the Republican Party, shall we?

— Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) (@HC_Richardson) July 5, 2018

And there's journalist David Neiwert, author of several books about the radical right, with a thread on the enduring ties between historical fascists/Nazis and today's alt-right:

1) I’d like to start a thread chiming in on the marvelous deconstruction of @DineshDSouza and his thesis that the Southern Strategy and subsequent party switch in the 1960s and ‘70s is a myth, courtesy of @KevinMKruse and Co. Consider this a kind of return to the present.

— David Neiwert (@DavidNeiwert) July 7, 2018

All three are worth reading for the important and useful historical perspective they provide. But they're especially worth reading for the beatdown they serve to Dumbass D'Souza.