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Vindicating Trump is easily the most important movie of the year, exposing how dangerous and corrupt much of established institutions have become in light of the political persecution endured by President #45, Donald J. Trump, perhaps the most publicized man in history. I call the movie the most important of the year because of what it represents. It is more than a movie and it is bigger than Trump (though central to him at this present moment).

“Blow, blow, thou winter wind, / Thou art not so unkind / As man’s ingratitude,” one can reflect on pop culture’s distaste for the man whose policies benefit the futurity and security of U.S. sovereignty and the world.

Director Dinesh D’Souza sets out to clarify the “enigma of Trump,” observing that some have sought to “sidestep the enigma of Trump the man by saying, ‘I don’t like him, but I like his policies.’ Yet if Trump’s critics are right that he is an aspiring tyrant, a dictator, something akin to Hitler circa 1933, it is the man—not the policies—that matter most.” Thus, the man also breeds the policies. In D’Souza’s new book by the same name, Vindicating Trump, the investigative writer-director asks, “If Trump isn’t the one imposing a tyrannical regime, then who is?”

Vindicating Trump affirms the view that the U.S.A. has slowly been overcome by corrupt forces on many sides, and Trump, unlike many, took notice to peerlessly rise to the challenge, choosing to do something about it, to stand up against the behemoth on the world stage without flinching. The film adroitly alternates between documentary narration, interviews (with Trump and others), and satirical drama. With imaginative realism, D’Souza as narrator likens Trump to a cowboy riding into a Western town overrun by gangsters.

During this month’s Vice Presidential debate, a courteous yet uncompromising J. D. Vance admitted that he had once bought the media lie so widespread about Trump, a view more easily held before the candidate of “common sense” and moral strength proved a four-year success as President.

I remember the tension of 2016. Way back in the beginning, I was torn. Although I settled on who to vote for, I still wondered who I could fully believe. In 2016, I respected Trump supporters and their liberty-loving patriotism, but was confused by how the ‘respectable establishment’ could so doggedly oppose him unless they somehow had a point. The never-Trumpers vowed for virtue, after all. Today, a barer landscape shows a starker and clearer eyed reality. Since Trump left office after a whirlwind 2020, it is harder to deny the world we are actually in. In this critical hour, no room is left to sustainably breathe the excuses and lies of the ‘blind leading the blind.’ Trump has probably been the sanest person in the room on more than one occasion. The sanest man in the room can appear to be the craziest, especially if outnumbered by adversaries.

Sure, Trump is known to say ridiculous or absurd-sounding things, and enough ink is spilled over it when we happen to find ourselves in an absurd and dangerous world whose evils demand adamant course correction from a leader brave enough to acknowledge and confront the ridiculous. In the twenty-first century, political gangsters sit in offices of ingenuine civility. “I could sure use a mean tweet and a $1.75 gas right now,” a bumper sticker in my hometown reads.

Unlike the local perils of a Wild West town, Trump has accrued enemies from all over the world—enemies of freedom and American dignity. Take the past decade, or even the past four years, where we have seen political cronyism warped to transform culture through radical ideology aligned by intrigue, bent on controlling hearts and minds under ill-intended concentrations of power. Many leaders have ridden the coattails of the Founders’ words while abusing everything they built. “It’s hard to be nice when they’re destroying our country,” Trump has said.

Corruption is an inconvenient fact, a real threat to every responsible person. It is easy to dismiss only because we have for so long had it so good, unlike other (older) populations in the world who lived to see the end of where radical ideologies lead: the loss of national freedom and individual prosperity. In a word, tyranny under centralized government. Is this so far-fetched? Only if you are unwilling to look beyond the moment. D’Souza and his topic, Trump, do.

“He could be a tyrant, if he wanted to. But he doesn’t want to,” says D’Souza. “Rather, he wants to use his immense charisma and power to mobilize the American people against the forces of tyranny and repression, coming from the Democrats and from the Left.”

The film gives viewers front row access to intimate interviews that show a humanizing side to Trump seldom celebrated, also effectively satirizing the sort of shady, backroom dialogs that go on behind closed doors among the political movers and players of public opinion. The documentary’s true-to-life realism is paired with skit-like, dramatic segments, a creative and daring choice by D’Souza, humorous but harrowing while satirically cathartic, encouraging the viewer—through the free speech mechanism of film—to laugh at those circus aspects of things while also recognizing, accepting, and not shirking away from the gravity of things, of the fight for freedom on the modern stage.

D’Souza follows the line, as do I, that Trump’s virtues far outweigh his vices, and that his trademark toughness is exactly what is needed at this hour. A roar for law, order, and traditional American values to return nationwide, to undo the damage caused by the radical governance of would-be, quasi-dictators at a helm buttressed by media conglomerates and offshore bureaucracies. Several seconds of a sit-down interview with Trump supplies more truthful sentiment than the entire careers of some politicians. “They have bad policies, so they cheat,” Trump says of the radical goliath.

We owe D. J. T. a sincere debt of gratitude if not a monumental apology. Many do not know how blessed they are to have a Trump straddled in the boxing ring of world affairs. Certain heroes are rarely uncontroversial before the dust settles.

After I saw Sound of Freedom (2023) perversely denigrated by much of the press last year, I no longer expect the press to be remotely decent. Cheap lies are a dime a dozen, bought by the brokers of world greed lusting after their idea of empire. The billionaire Trump, once worshipped in newsstands, is now the target of multinational crucifixion. Perhaps a ‘Benedict Arnold’ in the eyes of global barons funneling resources to nation-usurping ideologues.

Do not be surprised if this movie is ridiculed by what I call the ‘deep creep.’ The masks came off completely when Sound of Freedom was derided without cause last year, to name just one example of wanton mastheads breaching civic and humane normalcy. Also do not be surprised if this movie is met with tentative indifference.

The movie affirms what Trump voters have already known while offering powerful testimony to those who may find themselves unsure, perplexed by the polarization of the times, or possibly stuck somewhere in the middle between traditional values and the radicalism couched in popular culture by parroting peers and gatekeepers (who like borders, just not national ones).

“I have never met a woke person who is happy,” said Trump while interviewed by D’Souza. “That’s true,” I heard a woman say while viewing the film in the theater along with the handful of others who were there.

Many are subtly trained to be “unbiased” in an unnatural sense, as though political neutrality were the same thing as objectivity, and most consequentially, as though neutrality were the most peace-enabling option to respect civility. The MAGA movement—as led by Trump—has sought to reclaim a vision for genuine civility by “telling it like it is,” without compromise or pretense over fundamental matters that are life or death for the free American, to preserve core values and principles—our strength and the world’s—once undisputed in the U.S. not very long ago.

We are at a life or death crossroad for the greatest nation on earth. Trump, unlike most, has taken a stand in the line of fire. He took a racing bullet for his beliefs. Welcome back to history as usual, where good men are shot at. We The People ought to win this while it’s easy.

One point made by the film is that paper money is more secure—against counterfeiting and such—than the election system is. Shockingly, or not so shockingly (to those paying attention), the election system is believed to be profoundly insecure. The movie goes into startling detail on this. Trump urges Americans to vote “too big to rig.”

Those that love life—their homeland, family, and God—have not picked this fight. When a person loves life, they do well to defend it. It’s how we’re here, and can keep on. Vindicating Trump affirms that perseverance can curtail corruption. The bravery of one powerful man against the spheres stacked against him then rings loud and clearer in the media din.

This movie is well done, hard yet encouraging to watch. It is a must-see.

Now is a fateful hour. The Liberty Bell sounds with alarm.

“Everyone should be in here to see this,” a man said to me as closing credits rolled with the startling reality check: The times we’re in are not fiction or ‘business as usual.’ The task of preserving liberty has always been the business of the real American, a business we had better get back to if we are to keep our way of life.

To anyone that cares, go see this movie on the big screen. Tickets aren’t likely to get any cheaper unless Trump is indeed vindicated.