Mr. Maher is taking the past-as-prologue approach based on his own experience in the Trumpian combat caldron in 2013.

That was when Mr. Maher launched a “birther”— or, “ape-r” — campaign about Mr. Trump, to rival the one Mr. Trump had pursued about President Obama’s citizenship. Appearing on “The Tonight Show,’’ he joked that Mr. Trump was the product of human-orangutan crossbreeding; it was the only thing, he said, that would explain the “color of his hair.” He said he would donate $5 million to a charity of Mr. Trump’s choice if he could prove this wasn’t the case. (Mr. Maher pledged $1 million in 2012 to a “super PAC” supporting Obama.)

Mr. Trump’s lawyers replied with a copy of his short-form birth certificate and a demand for the money, which Mr. Maher ignored. Then Mr. Trump filed a lawsuit that ultimately went nowhere. “It was worth it in comedy material,” Mr. Maher told me, taking a couple of puffs from a pipe molded into a bust of his head (a gift from a friend) as we stood by the bar in his Indian-themed living room. “But you definitely spent money.”

That is, Mr. Maher had the money to pay for the courage that another comedian may not have been able to afford. He takes it as a harbinger.

“No one knows what this man is capable of,” Mr. Maher said. “I never, ever, ever felt worried — it never crossed my mind — that George Bush would do something crazy, even though I knew he hated me. He never sued me for a joke.”

Mr. Maher was particularly focused on reports that several F.B.I. agents were agitating before the election for more aggressive examination of Hillary Clinton, which Democrats feared was politically motivated to help Mr. Trump. (The Justice Department’s inspector general has announced a broad investigation into the F.B.I.’s election-year performance.)

“It is a very troubling idea that the F.B.I. is politicized,” he said. “When the internal police department is politicized, that’s a place I don’t want to be on the wrong side of — I mean, that’s fascism.”