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Dinesh D'Souza made a movie saying Democrats today could have written the Nazi party platform

The former right-wing egghead turned even more right-wing activist has a new film about how Trump is just like Lincoln.

Outside the precincts of professional conservatism, author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s influence has gone largely unnoticed. But of the top ten grossing documentaries of all time, the number five spot is held by D’Souza — an anti-Obama movie that brought in $33 million.

Now D’Souza is back with "Death of a Nation," a two-hour attack on Democrats that doubles as a celebration of Donald Trump.

D’Souza was once considered the thinking man’s conservative, with a sinecure at an influential think tank and books that — while controversial — were reviewed in high-brow publications.

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But D’Souza eventually determined that intellectuals couldn’t effect political change, so the once marginal right-wing egghead remade himself into a brawling, even more right-wing activist.

He draws from personal experience as a reference point for the hard shift. In 2014, he was convicted of making an illegal campaign contribution and sentenced to five years of probation. In May, President Trump pardoned him. But D’Souza thinks his conviction stands as proof that fascism has taken over the Democratic party.

Now he’s behind some of the right’s most outlandish talking points. He’s even argued that the Nazi party platform could have been written by Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders.

And he’s reaching a very powerful audience. D’Souza’s influence within the Trump wing of the GOP was on display at “Death of a Nation’s” DC premiere; an event hosted by the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.

“When people talk about the Nazi platform in the early 1930’s and what the Left’s platform is today… they’re remarkably similar,” Trump Jr told VICE News' Michael Moynihan at the film’s premiere.

When pressed if he agreed with D’Souza’s argument that there’s a straight line from fascism and the Nazi Party to the Democratic Party, Trump Jr avoided a decisive answer. But said the film is “very compelling.”

VICE News sat down with D’Souza ahead of the premiere of Death of a Nation, and challenged the right-wing provocateur on his most outrageous arguments.

“I would be happy to disarm the moment I see the other side disarming I'll be happy to show goodwill the moment I see an ounce of goodwill coming from the other side,” D’Souza said. “The militancy that's coming for me at this point is is driven by a militant situation.”

This segment originally aired August 7, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.