The obscure figures he's referencing here are Trent Lott and Jesse Helms.
https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1024363067688116224
No, really. 
As I noted here, John Tower had grown up as a Democrat, but then switched to the Republican Party and won office as a Texas senator in 1961. He then firmly stood with the Dixiecrats to oppose civil rights:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1013981454219476992
As I noted here, Trent Lott served as a top aide to a prominent segregationist Democrat, Rep. William Colmer, who handpicked Lott as his successor but told him the time had come to switch to the GOP. Lott did just that.
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1013981474540965888
And last but not least, Jesse Helms served as the campaign strategist and later chief of staff to segregationist Democrat Senator Willis Smith, won office himself as a segregationist Democrat but then later ran as a Republican for the Senate himself:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1013981475388248065
Now, D'Souza claims none of these racist Southern Democrats who switched to the Republicans really count as party switchers.
Moving the goalposts, he says it only counts if they were elected to Congress as a Dem and then switched to the GOP, which almost never happened.
Moving the goalposts, he says it only counts if they were elected to Congress as a Dem and then switched to the GOP, which almost never happened.
But look at who D'Souza does count as a "Dixiecrat" -- W. Kerr Scott of North Carolina.
When Scott was in the Senate, yes, he backed the Southern Manifesto and voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Absolutely.
BUT!
When Scott was in the Senate, yes, he backed the Southern Manifesto and voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Absolutely.
BUT!
When the actual Dixiecrat revolt unfolded, W. Kerr Scott fought against them.
He was part of the NC machine that kept Dixiecrats off the ballot in the state, and as governor, he appointed racial liberal Frank Porter Graham to an empty Senate seat:
He was part of the NC machine that kept Dixiecrats off the ballot in the state, and as governor, he appointed racial liberal Frank Porter Graham to an empty Senate seat:
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1016140094430998528
By D'Souza's logic:
Jesse Helms, the segregationist Democrat responsible for this racist ad in 1950, does *not* count as a Dixiecrat
Kerr Scott, the governor who fought the Dixiecrats and installed the man they hated most in the Senate and campaigned for him, *is* a Dixiecrat.
Jesse Helms, the segregationist Democrat responsible for this racist ad in 1950, does *not* count as a Dixiecrat
Kerr Scott, the governor who fought the Dixiecrats and installed the man they hated most in the Senate and campaigned for him, *is* a Dixiecrat.
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