This is a pattern, now. It's how fascists operate. Lindsey Graham parroted Trump, and Trump saw he "got away with it", so figured he could, too.

It's a signal to his thugs - "stand by". There will be blood, but more important is to keep/take control of legislatures. It's no longer red/blue or Dem/Rep, it is democracy vs autocracy, pure and simple. To the extent we don't, there will be more blood. Not a civil war, mind you, but civil unrest.