Far-right documentary filmmaker and Trump pardoned felon Dinesh D'Souza has a major problem with former President Barack Obama's new memoir—A Promised Land which sold 1.7 million copies in its first week on the shelves.
D'Souza is simply aghast at Obama's repeated use of the first person to narrate his own life.
No way I can do this, but someone should count the number of times Obama uses the term “I” in his ridiculous 700-pa… https://t.co/SEToqb3E34— Dinesh D'Souza (@Dinesh D'Souza) 1606080824.0
D'Souza's critique certainly didn't come out of left field.
The commentator has written plenty of his own books, including one titled The Roots of Obama's Rage in 2010. His wildly anti-Obama documentary based on that book, called 2016: Obama's America made over $33 million.
Hating Obama is big business for D'Souza.
To give a taste of his political leanings, D'Souza's other films include Death of a Nation and Trump Card, a polemic against the evils of socialist ideas in the contemporary United States.
It's also worth noting that in 2018 Donald Trump pardoned D'Souza of a felony conviction for making illegal contributions to political campaigns.
So D'Souza knows which side his bread is buttered on.
But criticizing a memoir for referencing its subject matter is a stretch.
In his 700-page book, Obama covered many essential traits of a memoir. He traced his biographical roots and upbringing, followed the trajectory of his life through his time as President and captured the subtle dynamics underpinning the historical events of his presidency that many of us remember.
And, yes, Obama referred to himself in the first person throughout the book. Presumably, spending the entire book calling himself "Obama" felt a little bizarre from behind the keyboard.
People on Twitter lampooned D'Souza's critique.
They had a field day explaining how utterly ridiculous his latest Obama hot take was.
@DineshDSouza What kind of monster writes their memoir in the 1st person?— The Canada Party (@The Canada Party) 1606080910.0
@DineshDSouza Imagine being so intentionally stupid you don’t know what an autobiography is about— Ryan Marino (@Ryan Marino) 1606183312.0
@DineshDSouza So you’re admitting you read it - all 700 pages - and on top of that - counted the “I”s? https://t.co/rDkQMHBE2V— The Official Gay Guy (@The Official Gay Guy) 1606454909.0
Some people took the opportunity to mentor D'Souza on his own public image.
@DineshDSouza You are starting to embarrass yourself— Joey Fazzari (@Joey Fazzari) 1606080867.0
@DineshDSouza What an incredible reach. “Wow this author used I a lot of times in a book he wrote about himself. Ho… https://t.co/FfXBZO2LZz— Taylor Youngling (@Taylor Youngling) 1606081465.0
@DineshDSouza Salty, salty, salty, D'nesh. You know Obama's book is gonna clear more sales on day one than all eig… https://t.co/p3qHFpGVET— Yuri the Sock Puppet (@Yuri the Sock Puppet) 1606081088.0
@DineshDSouza Dinesh calling ANYONE BUT HIMSELF the "greatest egotist of all time" is one of the most gut-busting,… https://t.co/UYdEQVeUQZ— Shortsleeves (@Shortsleeves) 1606168440.0
One person even crunched the numbers to show how Obama's book compared to one published as by Donald Trump, but written by Tony Schwartz.
@DineshDSouza Donald Trump & Tony Schwartz, The Art of the Deal (1987): Total occurrences - 4019: "I" - 2418 "I'm"… https://t.co/E1kmyiUywL— Fraser (@Fraser) 1606169954.0
D'Souza better strap in for plenty of more "I" usage in autobiographies. A second volume of Obama's memoir is planned for the future.