CNN contributor Buck Sexton had a heated exchange with a professor on CNN Thursday after the latter said the Islamic State terrorist organization wasn't "coming after us" and kept insisting that Sexton didn't believe the majority of ISIS victims were Muslims.
Mia Bloom, a Georgia State professor, said attacks like the one in Nice, France, Thursday night were demonstrative of its efforts to stay relevant while its caliphate was slipping away. She remarked the horrific truck attack also increased the "degree of right-wing politics" and "Islamophobia" before going into an attack on Sexton.
"I do disagree with Mr. Sexton, because the fact is, and I'll say this to you, Buck, directly, the vast majority of ISIS' victims are Muslim," she said angrily. "Not us. Not the West."
"I'm fully aware of that," Sexton said. "No one disputes that."
An animated Bloom took exception to Sexton earlier saying "they're coming after us," saying, "They're not coming after us more than they're coming after each other."
"I was referring to the Islamic State, which very clearly through its external operations arm ... along with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which until recently was considered the most virulent and deadly of the jihadist terrorist organizations for this kind of external plotting, they're continuing to do this," he said. "Of course they're killing Muslims."
He said he'd seen their "handiwork" in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. After CNN host Don Lemon cut in to make a nonsensical point about the killers being Muslim, Sexton said he was confused that Bloom was accusing him of saying Muslims didn't make up the majority of the victims from these terrorists.
"Because you said they're coming after us," Bloom said. "They're not just coming after us."
"Yes, they are in fact coming after us!" Sexton shouted. "Do you want me to sit here and talk to you about all the terrorist—"
"But they're mostly going after each other," she shot back.
"When I say us, I'm referring to America and Europe and the West and all peaceful Muslims and everyone around the world who doesn't believe that strapping a suicide vest on because you're disaffected, because you have some belief that somehow this will take you to a place of paradise and virgins, whatever the case may be, everybody who isn't on that team is on my team," Sexton said. "This notion you have in your head that when I say us, I'm referring to what? Republican Americans?"
"No, you're saying us as Americans," Bloom said.
Sexton, a former CIA analyst, said her implication was "preposterous." He added there was a "knee-jerk reaction" from leftists to center discussions around "bad rhetoric" from people trying to speak honestly about terrorism.
"We're just trying to empower the moderates from within Muslim societies, we're trying to empower our allies in countries that we do work with in the Muslim world and outside the Muslim world, to stop people from getting mowed down at a celebration of a national holiday. That's it!" Sexton said.
Bloom bizarrely said again, "Which include other Muslims."
"I've said that four or five times already," Sexton said.
Lemon tried to cut in repeatedly to stop Sexton's remarks at the end, and he ended the discussion there.