Right-wing conspiracy theorist, conservative provocateur, Trump pardon recipient and former Laura Ingraham paramour Dinesh D'Souza is the target of massive mockery online following the announcement his exposé on supposed voter fraud in the 2020 election was recalled by his publisher.
In tweets, D'Souza cast the decision as merely a delay in publishing to October for a simple "publishing error."
But a leaked announcement from a book distributor gives a different impression, calling the move a "FULL RECALL"—in all caps—by conservative publishing house Regnery, an extremely rare move suggesting the error is more than a simple hiccup.
Given there was no significant voter fraud in the 2020 election, the most secure election in American history, and D'Souza's claims were already thoroughly debunked previously and several people and organizations that made similar unsubstantiated claims are being sued?
Well, you can probably gather what the "error" might be.
See D'Souza's tweet about the matter below.
\u201cThe publication date of my book \u201c2000 Mules\u201d has been pushed back a few weeks and early print copies recalled. From @Regnery: \u201cDue to a publishing error, the publication date of 2000 Mules has been postponed to October 25, 2022. We look forward to publishing 2000 Mules this Fall\u201d\u201d— Dinesh D'Souza (@Dinesh D'Souza) 1661818861
D'Souza wrote:
"The publication date of my book '2000 Mules' has been pushed back a few weeks and early print copies recalled."
"From @Regnery: 'Due to a publishing error, the publication date of 2000 Mules has been postponed to October 25, 2022. We look forward to publishing 2000 Mules this Fall''
In a follow-up tweet, D'Souza implied the error was the sort of simple fact-checking foible that frequently occurs during what D'Souza called the "sausage-making process" of book publishing and which simply wasn't caught in time for the first press.
\u201cThere is an elaborate sausage-making process that goes into a book. Somehow a significant error got missed by the publisher. It is now corrected but my book \u201c2000 Mules\u201d is pushed back to October. The book is explosive so I\u2019m glad it\u2019s being done right. It will be worth the wait!\u201d— Dinesh D'Souza (@Dinesh D'Souza) 1661860232
But the distributor's take on the matter gives a very different impression.
Author and reporter Nancy Levine received what she says is a copy of an announcement from a book distributor that supplies books to Walmart regarding Regnery's recall, which she subsequently shared to Twitter.
\u201c\ud83d\udea8NEW: Publisher of @DineshDSouza's book 2000 MULES has issued a FULL RECALL. I received this image from a book vendor for Walmart. The book's election fraud premise has been widely debunked.\n\nI've asked publisher @Regnery why it issued the full recall. Will report. #Publishing\u201d— Nancy Levine \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Nancy Levine \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1661804981
The alert read in part:
"Please note, the title below needs to be pulled out of stores immediately due to FULL RECALL from Publisher."
The publisher itself later announced the full recall on its own Twitter page, saying the book's publication has been pushed back to October 25, 2022.
\u201cDue to a publishing error, the publication date of 2000 Mules has been postponed to October 25, 2022. We look forward to publishing \u201c2000 Mules\u201d by @DineshDSouza this fall.\u201d— Regnery Publishing (@Regnery Publishing) 1661819726
Such a recall, after the book was published and distributed, is an extraordinary measure that comes with extraordinary costs for a publisher—not a thing a publisher would do for, say, a misspelling of a name or a similar small error.
D'Souza's central election fraud conspiracy theory, in which he claims the 2020 election was won by paying "2000 mules" to stuff fake Biden ballots into absentee and mail-in ballot boxes, has already been thoroughly debunked following the release of D'Souza's documentary film of the same name.
D'Souza's claims are so absurd they've been called nonsense even by some of former Republican President Donald Trump's closest insiders, including former Attorney General Bill Barr.
And far-right ideologue Ann Coulter, herself an author of books published by Regnery, publicly called D'Souza's film "Dinesh's stupid movie" and accused him of "grifting" off 2020 election resentment.
When even Ann Coulter won't propagate your propaganda you know it's spurious at best, and Regnery's extraordinary measures have led many to speculate they did so to avoid the legal ramifications of publishing a fallacious book.
On Twitter, people of course had a field day raking D'Souza over the coals over the news.
\u201cI'm guessing a lawyer noticed the error. Has to be something potentially legally actionable, given the level of fabulism D'Souza regularly deals in.\u201d— JacobSilverman.shill (@JacobSilverman.shill) 1661870146
\u201cWas the publishing error the decision to publish it?\u201d— Ted Boutrous (@Ted Boutrous) 1661825095
\u201cLove to blame someone else for the "significant error" in the book I wrote.\u201d— Mike Rothschild (@Mike Rothschild) 1661872519
\u201cdiarrhea is also explosive\u201d— bring on the dancing horses (@bring on the dancing horses) 1661867572
\u201cWas the publishing error the decision to publish it?\u201d— Ted Boutrous (@Ted Boutrous) 1661825095
\u201cWondering if the publisher got cold feet about being sued for libel?\u201d— Rick Hasen (@Rick Hasen) 1661870886
\u201chttps://t.co/9eM2CUNvHA\n\nDinesh had the book release postponed because one of the proofreaders noticed that in the book, specifically on page 133 paragraph 4... there was an ACTUAL FACT. Once this is removed, the book should be available.\u201d— dancing nekkid in the street \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf0a (@dancing nekkid in the street \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf0a) 1661843743
\u201cNo explanation for what the "publishing error" was in this broadly debunked book.\n\nWill be interesting to see if anyone snagged a copy to compare it to what's ultimately published in Oct.\u201d— Aaron Blake (@Aaron Blake) 1661857564
\u201c\u201cPrinting errors\u201d = the lawyers all fainted.\u201d— \u2702\ufe0f\ud835\ude4f\ud835\ude26\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude28\ud835\ude67\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude5e\ud835\ude2f Redacted \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@\u2702\ufe0f\ud835\ude4f\ud835\ude26\ud835\ude2f\ud835\ude28\ud835\ude67\ud835\ude22\ud835\ude5e\ud835\ude2f Redacted \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1661820587
\u201cAs someone who has written a number of books and reviewed many book contracts, accuracy is the author's responsibility, not the publisher's. "I missed a significant error" would be more accurate, unless, given history, "I tried to slide something by" was the case.\u201d— Erik Sherman (@Erik Sherman) 1661873929
D'Souza was himself convicted of violating federal election laws in 2014.
He was pardoned by former President Trump.
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