HBO host Bill Maher William (Bill) MaherBill Maher to Joy Reid: 'Very nervous' about Biden's chances after GOP convention Bill Maher revives QAnon gag: 'I am Q' Oliver Stone, Bill Maher tangle on reliability of US intelligence on Russia: 'You think they're lying?' MORE on Friday compared President Trump to martial artist and actor Jean Claude Van Damme in his fiery warnings to North Korea.

"I think he thought he was being Jean Claude Van Damme," Maher said on his show "Real Time," apparently likening Trump's recent rhetoric to the actor's famous roundhouse kicks.

The president this week said the U.S. would unleash "fire and fury" upon North Korea if the country continues to threaten the United States.

In a round table interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria and presidential historian Jon Meacham, Meacham first suggested Trump was attempting to channel a famous statesman.

"I think he thought he was being [Winston] Churchill," Meacham said.

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"I don't know which is worse," said Zakaria. "Either he's bluffing or he's not. His whole life he's made empty threats. In a way he really thinks no one will remember."

"But the danger is what if he's not bluffing?" he added.

Maher - who is also known for making fiery statements - then said he was afraid of the U.S. "becoming North Korea" and suggested some in the Trump administration already see Trump as "the dear leader," a name for North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un.