Bill Maher recently ended his show by tearing into the “liberal purists” who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because she was the lesser of two evils. One of the people he called out was friend and frequent guest Dr. Cornel West, and when West appeared on Real Time tonight, the two of them went off.

Maher tonight brought up Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby being found not guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting Terence Crutcher, making the point that Clinton and Trump hold very different views on these issues.

He confronted West for calling them “equally awful,” but West said his point was that “one was a disaster, another was a catastrophe.”

As far as Maher was concerned, that proves his point, and the two of them got into a fierce back-and-forth over Clinton’s flaws compared to Trump’s. Maher said West was throwing out “bullshit” and West pointed out just how badly Bernie Sanders––who “would’ve won if he had a chance”––was treated.

West did say at one point that of course he thinks Clinton’s better than Trump, but then added, “That doesn’t take too much! Who isn’t better than Trump?”

Maher shot back:

“That isn’t an answer. It’s glib, it’s beneath you. For someone who’s such an intellectual, that answer is beneath you.”

Neil DeGrasse Tyson asked why bother arguing about the 2016 election. Maher cried, “They haven’t learned the lesson that we need to win the next election!”

You can watch the full back-and-forth above, via HBO.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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