Dinesh D'Souza's 'half-baked conspiracy theory' film given scathing review by Charlie Sykes

On Wednesday, writing for The Bulwark, conservative commentator Charlie Sykes criticized far-right filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza for "2000 Mules," his latest "documentary" alleging that 400,000 votes were stolen in the 2020 presidential election.

"D’Souza’s new effort, a slickly produced faux-documentary on the 2020 election, 2000 Mules, debuted at Mar-a-Lago with a festive screening attended by many of the notables of MAGA World. Matt Gaetz was there, and of course MTG, as well as conspiracy maven Lara Logan and teen vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse," wrote Sykes. "It probably will not come as a surprise to learn that the movie itself is a farrago of distortions wrapped in half-baked conspiracy theories and laugh-out-loud falsehoods. Fact-checkers (who are admittedly unlikely to penetrate very far into the MAGAverse’s alternate reality) have been brutal."

The central false claim in the film, noted Sykes, are that voter "mules" illegally gathered up and delivered ballots to swing states — a claim based on misunderstandings about cell phone data and state laws on ballot harvesting.

One of the best criticisms, Sykes wrote, came from Georgia political reporter Stephen Fowler, who, among many other false and unverified claims in the movie, pointed out, "How come they made you pay $30 to consume something that should be so earth-shattering that it should be shared widely for free and it’s a for-profit movie and you can’t see all the evidence they have? And how come there’s no resolution other than 'trust us, it’s bad?'"

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Ultimately, Sykes wrote, the most telling part of how bad the film was, is that even right-wing networks were cautious about promoting it.

"How awful is 2000 Mules?" concluded Sykes. "It turns out that D’Souza’s batsh*t crazy conspiracy theory about the election is too crazy even for ... Tucker Carlson. And Newsmax."

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