There has never been a sharp distinction between the public and private faces of Donald Trump, who described Atlanta as “crime-infested” online and called African countries “shitholes” behind closed doors. Both sides are about the same, when he is away from the teleprompter and going off script. There is only so much filter that can be removed when there’s hardly any filter to start with. Still, it was somewhat shocking to see Trump talking openly Thursday about something he has so far kept private: imposing the death penalty for people caught dealing drugs. “Some countries have a very, very tough penalty—the ultimate penalty,” Trump said wistfully at a White House summit on the opioid crisis. “And, by the way, they have much less of a problem.”

We’ve seen this one coming: In April, Trump called President Rodrigo Duterte to praise his bloody crackdown on drugs in the Philippines, which has reportedly killed as many as 12,000 people. “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” he said, referring to Duterte’s extrajudicial, state-sanctioned murder program. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.” The idea apparently stuck with Trump: Last week, Axios reported that Trump has continued privately raising the possibility of executing drug dealers, as Singapore does. “He says that a lot,” one source recalled. “He says, ‘When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] ‘No. Death penalty.’”

Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway essentially confirmed the report when she clarified that Trump was merely referring to bringing capital murder charges against high-volume dealers of drugs like fentanyl, which, she pointed out, “are so lethal in such small doses.” On Thursday, Trump brought the idea out into the open, suggesting that the United States adopt “the ultimate penalty” for drug dealers.

The president’s comments fit a pattern of authoritarian rhetoric, from calling Democrats “treasonous” for not applauding his State of the Union address to pressuring the Department of Justice to prosecute his political opponents. But they also suggest a looser, less controlled Trump as the president has grown increasingly frustrated with the shackles his chief of staff, John Kelly, has imposed on him. The chains began to break last month, as Kelly’s authority was rocked by allegations of domestic abuse involving his second-in-command, Rob Porter. The scandal created a domino effect in the White House that fueled tensions between Kelly and Jared Kushner over Kushner’s security clearance and was a factor in the resignation of Hope Hicks, one of Trump’s closest confidants.

The silly season has, in turn, fed a bumper crop of crazy coming out of the Oval. Trump is reportedly considering firing National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, whom he also resents, and on Thursday bucked the advice of his National Economic Adviser Gary Cohn and announced tariffs on steel and aluminum, causing the stock markets to plunge. For months, Trump’s senior staff had slow-walked his enthusiasm for a trade war. This week, he decided he would act unilaterally. “Trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Trump tweeted Friday morning, as the Dow Jones dropped another 350 points. This is what it looks like when the president stops being nice and starts getting real.