Dinesh D'Souza has a book to sell.
It was certainly with that in mind that in an interview with the conservative Newsmax TV, D'Souza offered his opinion on the unrest in Ferguson, following the killing by police of an unarmed, black teenager. D'Souza's smart take? Protesters in Ferguson are like ISIS in Iraq.
No, really.
D'Souza shouted at his webcam: "The common thread between ISIS and what's going on in Ferguson is you have these people who basically believe that to correct perceived injustice, it's perfectly okay to inflict all types of new injustices. Behead guys who had nothing to do with it. Go and loot shops from business owners who were not part of the original problem whatsoever. And all of this is then licensed by the left and licensed, to some degree, by the media."
Beheading, looting — basically the same thing. Just ask anyone who has been both beheaded and looted. You may not get a response, but go ahead and ask.
D'Souza also expressed concern that officer Darren Wilson — who shot at Michael Brown at least six times, according to his autopsy — would not get justice.
"You have Obama, you have Holder, and you have Al Sharpton," — the liberal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when you think about it — "now, can a cop, acting under the exigencies of his job, expect justice in those three guys who are deciding the outcome? I mean, It seems really clear that they are fostering an atmosphere in Ferguson that basically goes, 'Let's declare this guy is probably guilty, and let's see what we can do to put him up against the wall.' The idea that he would get impartial justice is becoming highly questionable."
D'Souza did not say whether or not he had similar concerns about whether or not Michael Brown had received impartial justice. A request for comment from The Daily Beast has not yet received a response.
D'Souza, 53, is a Bombay-born author and "documentarian" who served as an adviser for President Ronald Reagan. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge that he illegally funneled $20,000 in campaign contributions to a Republican Senate candidate. D'Souza is currently hawking a new book which I refuse to name here.
UPDATE: D'Souza has responded to The Daily Beast's request for comment: "I am concerned about justice for Brown; I haven't commented on the facts of the case because we don't have them. We hear radically conflicting accounts. Unlike many on both sides, I don't want to prejudge the situation.
Now to compare ISIS radicals and Ferguson looters is not to say that they are the same in all respects. Looting is not the moral equivalent of beheading; But the two groups are similar in that, in order to fight what they perceive to be injustice, they are willing to harm innocent people who had nothing to do with the injustice."
Asked, then, why, if he does not feel he has enough facts to discuss the death of Michael Brown, he feels he has enough facts to discuss the officer who shot him, D'Souza responded: "Olivia: Because the racial demagoguery creates a witch-hunt atmosphere and that is what can obstruct justice. That us what I am objecting to. I have never said that Wilson is guilty or not guilty."
Asked again why he feels comfortable pontificating about the protesters and Wilson, D'Souza sent an email titled, "Looters, remember?" wherein he wrote: "Gee Olivia, I spoke of looters, not 'protesters.' Besides, we KNOW what they were doing-breaking and stealing stuff from innocent people." (NOTE: D'Souza's quote from Newsmax compared ISIS to 'what's going on in Furgeson,' and beheading to looting.)
Gee, Dinesh.
