Dinesh D’Souza’s Pro-Trump Doc ‘Death of a Nation’ Suffers Mediocre Debut

By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Controversial pundit Dinesh D’Souza’s latest documentary received a lackluster response from moviegoers.

“Death of a Nation” made $2.3 million when it opened on 1,032 screens, averaging a tepid $2,248 per theater. The documentary, which explores fascism and white supremacy and compares President Donald Trump to Abraham Lincoln, is the lowest wide release launch to date for the right-wing conservative filmmaker. It’s the first political documentary to bow nationwide since Ben Stein’s “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” debuted 10 years ago.

While a start over a million dollars is impressive for any documentary given the low price tag, it’s not exactly promising for a film that debuted in over 1,000 locations. D’Souza’s previous titles all bowed in limited release before expanding.

His last movie, “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” generated $3.6 million during its wide release in 2016. It went on to make $13 million. Prior to that, 2014’s “America: Imagine the World Without Her” picked up $2.6 million when it opened nationwide before ending its theatrical run with $14.4 million. D’Souza’s first documentary was “2016: Obama’s America,” which bowed with $6.5 million and topped out with a strong $33 million.

In  his review of “ ,”Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman says, “ goes over the top — of hate, and of truth — in his latest documentary, a radical-right screed that equates liberalism with Nazism.” He adds, “Dinesh D’Souza is no longer preaching to the choir; he’s preaching to the mentally unsound.”

Though the doc currently holds a 0% on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it has generated some positive sentiment among conservatives. “This film is a great reminder about what the left really stands for and why conservatives must never stop fighting for freedom and liberty,” Stephanie Hamill, a journalist with right-wing publication the Daily Caller,  wrote on Twitter .

It also garnered praise from the Trumps, including Donald Trump Jr., who co-hosted a screening of the documentary in Washington D.C. He also tweeted about the film , saying, “It’s going to fire up Republicans for the midterms.”

Earlier this year, Trump pardoned D’Souza , who pled guilty in 2014 to a felony campaign finance violation.