Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza faced swift and pointed backlash on Thursday after posting a social media comment that many on the right said crossed a line, injecting unnecessary racial rhetoric into an already fraught political environment.
Responding to news about Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for governor of Ohio, D’Souza wrote on X: “How ironic it will be if a brown American like Vivek actually helps to fix education and raise the prospects of white kids, while all the professional whiteys on X continue their idle boasting about how they too could get us to the moon, ‘just like some white dudes did in 1969.’”
The use of the term “whiteys,” widely viewed as a derogatory slur, triggered immediate criticism — much of it from conservatives who have for years championed colorblind civic principles and urged the movement to move beyond identitarian politics.
Some of the strongest rebukes came from those who have long defended D’Souza’s work. Conservative influencer Lauren Chen pushed back, framing the remark as counterproductive and unfair. “I know it must be hard to be Indian and conservative right now since a lot of negativity is on Indian immigrants with the H1Bs,” she wrote. “Being Chinese, I really do get it! But the answer isn’t to lash out at Americans, call them ‘whitey,’ or demean them.”
Others interpreted the comment as an example of a troubling trend. “And well….there it is,” The Blaze contributor Auron MacIntyre observed. “In the last few weeks multiple conservative stalwarts who have endlessly preached about colorblind meritocracy and rejecting collectivism have come out as ethnic narcissists attacking whites or Europeans.”
The reaction was not confined to ideological enforcers or fringe voices. Classical liberal commentator Drew Pavlou cautioned that D’Souza’s post could damage Ramaswamy’s efforts among skeptical voters. “Dinesh these are bad posts, you are creating more resentment against Vivek,” Pavlou warned. In a separate comment, he added, “It’s really cooked that Dinesh is using the term ‘whiteys’… What does he think this will achieve.”
The dispute also drew responses touching on broader debates over immigration, labor markets, and cultural assimilation — debates that have become increasingly central on the right.
Connor Tomlinson, a contributor to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Courage Media, argued that such rhetoric reveals deeper contradictions within certain segments of the conservative movement. “America doesn’t need millions more Indian immigrants. Neither does Britain or Australia. Visa mills exploit the H-1B lottery system,” he wrote. “Ethno-nepotism means Heritage Americans are fired and replaced with cheap foreign labour. And the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy and Dinesh D’Souza cosplay as colourblind liberals in politics, but their mask slips when they insult American culture and lobby to import more of their co-ethnics.”
The episode underscores the heightened sensitivity within conservative politics toward questions of race, national identity, and immigration — issues that once divided left and right, but increasingly generate intra-movement conflicts.
For many conservatives who criticized D’Souza’s remark, the concern is not only rhetorical misstep but the erosion of a political vision rooted in shared civic values rather than racial categories.
As of Thursday evening, D’Souza had not issued a clarification or apology.
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