Dinesh D'Souza

Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-born American right-wing political commentator, conspiracy theorist, author, and filmmaker. He has made several films and written over a dozen books, several of them New York Times best-sellers. Born in Mumbai, India, to Catholic parents, D'Souza moved to the United States as an exchange student and graduated from Dartmouth College. He was a policy adviser in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and has been affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution. He became a naturalized citizen in 1991. From 2010 to 2012, he was president of The King's College, a Christian school in New York City, until he resigned after an alleged adultery scandal, after he shared a hotel room with a woman he referred to as his fiancée; both were married, but had separated from their respective spouses. In 2012, D'Souza released the conspiracist political film 2016: Obama's America, an anti-Barack Obama polemic based on his 2010 book The Roots of Obama's Rage. He has since released seven other conspiracist films: America: Imagine the World Without Her (2014), Hillary's America (2016), Death of a Nation (2018), Trump Card (2020), 2000 Mules (2022), Police State (2023) and Vindicating Trump (2024). D'Souza's films and commentary have generated considerable controversy due to their promotion of conspiracy theories and falsehoods, as well as for their incendiary nature. In 2014, D'Souza pleaded guilty in federal court to one felony charge of using a "straw donor" to make an illegal campaign contribution. In 2018, D'Souza was issued a pardon by President Donald Trump.