Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio's daily program "The Dean Obeidallah Show" and a columnist for The Daily Beast. Follow him @DeanObeidallah . The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) It seems Bill Maher desperately wants us to talk about his HBO show "Real Time." That explains why on Friday's episode, he invited Steve Bannon , who made Breitbart, under his leadership, a platform beloved by white nationalists and a home for anti-Muslim bigots to spew hate .

True, Bannon was also Donald Trump's campaign chief in the closing months of the 2016 campaign before he joined the White House as chief strategist and senior counselor to the President -- but those days are long gone. After a failed stint in Europe trying to help right-wing populists win elections, Bannon, along with just about everyone else who has access to a recording device, is now hosting a podcast

Today, Bannon is best known as a right-wing lightning rod who can attract press. Maher, who invited Bannon on his show before in September 2018, is an apparent subscriber to the old adage, "All press is good press."

But Maher -- who claims to be a liberal who wants to help defeat President Trump in the 2020 elections -- failed to push back on Bannon, who steamrolled the TV host on Friday night, just as he did during his first "Real Time" appearance in 2018. As Marlow Stern at The Daily Beast put it , "Steve Bannon outduels and embarrasses Bill Maher on 'Real Time,'" noting Maher's failure to challenge Bannon's spewing of baseless right-wing conspiracy theories.

Why is it that Maher has no problem passionately challenging people who say positive things about Islam but is suddenly timid when it comes to standing up to Bannon? In 2018 when he had Bannon on, he thanked him for appearing on his show and argued that the reason Democrats don't hold power is because they don't engage with political opponents. But yet again, he seemed unprepared. Does he not get that Bannon is taking advantage of his show's platform? It was clear from the outset that Bannon showed up with the mission to help Trump and divide the Democrats. And for most of it, Maher simply looked on like a bystander.

Maher opened the interview by acknowledging that Trump had just had a great week, having been acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial. From there, Bannon was off and running. He bragged about Trump's accomplishments and repeated the right-wing conspiracy theory that the FBI's investigation into the Trump's campaigns contacts with Russia was politically motivated, Maher put his hand over his face and said, "I can't even ..." Instead of pushing back on Bannon's Trump-inspired talking points, Maher simply surrendered.

And Bannon wasn't done -- he continued to hijack the show to espouse his views. It got so bad that at about a little over three minutes into the interview, an exasperated Maher remarked , "Steve, let me get to question two," which elicited an awkward laugh from the audience.

It's not that Maher didn't have some good questions -- he did not appear to be ready with facts to counter Bannon's claims. One of the most egregious examples was when Maher asked about Trump's use of dehumanizing language to describe his opponents: "When you talk about people like they're scum and they're evil -- we've seen it in Rwanda, 'cockroaches,' and we've seen in Germany, 'vermin.' You don't think when you talk about people like that -- your side ... you don't think it translates into action?" Bannon responded, "No, I do not ... you don't see any actions of the deplorables or people [Trump supporters] doing that."

Maher cut in, but only to rehash his question. Did Maher respond by noting the MAGA bomber who worshiped Trump and sent pipe bombs to some of Trump's favorite targets? Or what about the "avid" Trump supporter convicted of plotting to kill Muslim refugees in Kansas? His lawyer literally asked the judge to consider how Trump's heated campaign rhetoric may have played a role in driving his client to plot this terror attack

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Nope, Maher apparently was not aware of any of this, thus allowing Bannon to quickly pivot to calling former New York Mayor and presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg an "oligarch" and then worse, trying to flame divisions among Democrats by claiming Bernie Sanders voters in 2016 either abstained from voting or voted for Trump . In two post-election surveys , one found that only 6% of Sanders supporters voted for Trump, while another found that 12% did -- far less than the 24% of Hillary Clinton supporters who voted in 2008 for John McCain over Barack Obama, according to a YouGov survey.

Maher has been hosting his show since 2003 , and to his credit, has managed to stay relevant through all those years. But there are far better and more productive ways of doing that than by giving Bannon a free pass to spew pro-Trump propaganda on his show.

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