Dinesh D'Souza and Bill Ayers Battle During Contentious 'Kelly File' Debate: 'I'm Not Proud to Be an American

During a contentious interview aired on “The Kelly File” Wednesday, filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza and former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers clashed over everything from American exceptionalism to the violent tactics employed by the Weather Underground back in the 1960s and 70s.

At one point, Ayers openly admitted that he is “not proud to be an American” and said he doesn’t buy into the notion of American exceptionalism, a point which D’Souza strongly disagreed with.

D’Souza, who came to the United States from India as an exchange student in 1978, said he has seen first-hand why the United States is an exceptional nation because he’s lived in other cultures.

(Fox News)

He also said other nations, like Russia, would abuse the power that comes with being the world’s top superpower more egregiously than America has.

D’Souza also hit Ayers on his past involvement in domestic terrorism, saying “there was a big difference between Martin Luther King [Jr.] breaking the law and Bill Ayers breaking the law.” Dr. King used non-violent methods to protest an unjust society and proudly went to jail to make a point. Ayers used violent tactics and fled justice, D’Souza said.

His rant came after Ayers claimed that he and the radical group he founded “were never terrorists.”

On Iraq, Ayers claimed the turmoil that is gripping the country is the result of the United States' invasion following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He also accused the U.S. of blaming the "brown people" by blaming Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the instability facing the nation.

D'Souza admitted that invading Iraq was a "mistake" in retrospect, but explained that America has spent a lot of money in its bid to give the country freedom over its own affairs.

Hear the rest of the argument via "The Kelly File" here: