Conservative author, filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza is bringing his political message to Tallahassee
D'Souza is the author of nearly 20 books is known take aim at the Democratic Party and former President Obama
Dinesh D’Souza, who created a cottage industry of documentaries and books criticizing President Obama, the Clintons and the Democratic Party, is the keynote speaker for the FSU College Republicans annual fundraising gala.
It will be held at 6 p.m. April 14 at the Tucker Center. Tickets cost from $160 to $2,000, for a VIP table.
“We decided we wanted a big-name speaker, especially after the (presidential election) and we chose Dinesh D’Souza,” said Landon Schneider, chair of FSU College Republicans. “He attracts a lot of people from across the state. This speaking engagement is the only one in Florida for him.”
Schneider said the group can sell up to 300 tickets for the event. Tickets can be ordered through Eventbrite; a link it posted on the group’s Facebook page.
So far, about 20 have been sold, but he would be happy if they can sell 200 to 250 tickets. D’Souza’s fee is $12,000.
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Schneider said he expects D’Souza to stick to his anti-Democratic Party message and discuss how college campuses usually prefer liberal left-wing speakers over conservative ones.
Schneider said he appreciates the conservative writer/film-maker's use of facts and anecdotes to detail the history of the party. He said D’Souza is more of a serious lecturer, devoid of the props favored by ultra right-wing pundit Milo Yiannopoulos, who appeared at FSU last fall at the group’s invitation.
“Republicans always get called racists,” Schneider said, alluding to one of D’Souza’s messages. “He points out the Republican Party is not the party of racism, the Democratic Party is.”
Schneider said many people admired D’Souza’s documentary, “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” which exposed corruption within the party and the Clinton Foundation. However, critics have called the documentary a "hit job."
D’Souza, a native of India, graduated Phi Betta Kappa from Dartmouth. He was editor for the Dartmouth Review, helping to turn it into a leading conservative campus publication.
D'Souza has often courted controversy. A 2015 Vanity Fair profile recalls D’Souza once publishing a “lighthearted interview” with a former Ku Klux Klan member illustrated by a staged photo of a black man hanging from a tree. He also published an anti-affirmative action story written in Ebonics and outed members of the Gay Student Alliance.
D'Souza has been hit by scandal. In 2014, he pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation after being accused of creating "straw donors" to raise $20,000 in illegal contributions for a Republican campaign in New York. Past speaking engagements on campus have drawn lively protests from Democrats who call his rhetoric "hate speech."
His criticism of President Obama, often scathing, was a regular feature on Twiter.
“I am thankful this week when I remember that America is big enough and great enough to survive Grown-Up Trayvon in the White House.”
He has written nearly 20 books, including “Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus” and “Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader.”
He produced and directed —"2016: Obama's America,” the highest grossing conservative documentary in U.S. history.
“Dinesh D'Souza is one of the nation's leading public figures on conservative politics and values,” said Samuel Staley, director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center at FSU and adviser for FSU College Republicans. “He is also one of the leading proponents of restoring what conservatives have called "civil society," where ideas are considered, debated, and discussed in a nonviolent and respectful environment.”
Contact senior writer Byron Dobson at bdobson@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @byrondobson.