Donald Trump traveled to North Carolina on Friday and, despite the Republican’s criminal record, picked up an endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police. During his remarks at the FOP’s event, the former president urged the nation’s largest police union to give him a hand by “watching for voter fraud” nationwide.

It was, as a New York Times report noted, “an appeal that, if followed through on, could run afoul of multiple state laws and raise accusations of voter intimidation.”

A day later, the GOP nominee made matters considerably worse. NBC News reported:

Former President Donald Trump, who makes frequent false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen through rampant fraud, warned Saturday that he would try to imprison anyone who engages in “unscrupulous behavior” during this year’s race.

Even for Trump, the written message — published to his social media platform — was a doozy.

It began “CEASE & DESIST,” which is apparently a phrase the Republican has heard, though he apparently doesn’t fully understand what it means. He then accused Democrats of being responsible for “rampant Cheating and Skullduggery” in 2020 — an extension of the ridiculously dishonest propaganda campaign known as the “big lie” — before making his way to his threat.

“Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again,” Trump wrote.

In case that weren’t quite enough, he concluded, “Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

If this were a normal White House candidate, leading a healthy political party’s national ticket, one might be tempted to assume that such a written message would be accompanies by some kind of credible evidence of systemic wrongdoing. Not surprisingly, however, this was nothing of the kind: Trump was simply threatening assorted people associated with the election with lengthy prison sentences based on ridiculous conspiracy theories that only make sense in his twisted mind.

It was, as a Politico report summarized, one of the Republican’s “most explicit threats yet to upend the rule of law.” A Washington Post report added that the former president’s threats also represented “the most overt signal yet that he may not accept the result in November if he loses.”

That same article quoted an unnamed Republican official in a battleground state who found the online rant rather alarming.

“He sounds like he is losing it,” the Republican official said. “Sad, someone should do something, like replace him as a candidate.”

The assessment seemed more than fair, though reading Trump’s harangue, I also found myself marveling at his candor. The former president is effectively running on an authoritarian platform, and he’s becoming increasingly overt about it.

Common sense might suggest that the GOP candidate would be more subtle about his intentions. But Trump is instead throwing caution to the wind, endorsing a “strongman” leadership style, bragging about his support from dictators, raising the prospect of a temporary American “dictatorship,” talking about “terminating” parts of the Constitution that stand in the way of his ambitions, arguing that his rivals shouldn’t be “allowed” to run against him, targeting immigrants with Hitler-style rhetoric, all while promising pardons to politically aligned criminals and promising a crack down on the free press.

None of this is secret. He’s unveiled this vision publicly and with pride.

Let no one say Americans weren’t warned.