I just think it's all part of a larger picture - the sudden flurry of DoJ investigations for outright nazi reasons targeting powerful liberal institutions, the restatement of the idea that antifascist is terrorism, that opposing Trump and Isreal makes you a terrorist, that being "pro-transgender" which seems to mean not wanting to kill us, makes you a terrorist, the redistricting Jim Crow shit...
this is not a regime that intends to have meaningful elections or lose power. He's going for it.