The Trump administration in office has blended standard Republican policies (a big corporate tax cut; attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act; bombing Syria in response to its use of chemical weapons) with various alt-right gestures (economic protectionism; the travel ban on people from select Muslim countries; family separation imposed on immigrants at the southern border). And then, of course, there are Trump’s statements and tweets, which inevitably spew vituperation, sow division, and actively encourage fear of outsiders. The president might occasionally talk about the need for unity, but his nearly every substantive comment seems designed to encourage the already badly divided country to become even more sharply polarized.

It’s also designed to activate right-wing extremists, by convincing them that their ideas and goals are no longer quite as anathema as they once were. Trump might disappoint the most rabid of them, but he’s nonetheless managed to move the Overton Window in the direction favored by the deplorables. Jewish journalists were among the first to experience this during the 2016 presidential campaign, when anti-Semitic attacks online shot through the roof. The chilling events of the past week are the clearest sign yet of what life will be like in a country in which emboldened, heavily armed right-wing terrorists act to advance their aims.