Four federal prosecutors quit the case against President Donald Trump’s dirty-trickster ally Roger Stone on Tuesday afternoon, after the Justice Department intervened in Stone’s favor by recommending a reduced sentence, per the president’s wishes. The seismic blow to the department’s tradition of independence was somewhat overshadowed that night by the results of the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. In the end, though, the Stone case might be a greater portent for this year’s presidential election than any caucus or primary.

The White House clearly interpreted the Senate’s acquittal vote last week as a signal that the president is effectively unaccountable for his actions until the November election. In some ways, Trump is now freer to act on his simmering anger toward his perceived enemies than at any other time in his presidency. That sense of impunity and vengefulness has already led to the dismissals of multiple White House aides and a U.S. ambassador who had cooperated with the House’s impeachment inquiry.

Trump’s perspective on the function of the Justice Department is also primarily defined by thoughts of revenge. The various inquiries that loomed over his presidency are the result of his own actions, as well as those of his associates acting at his behest. But the president instead blames the existence of these investigations on a shadowy cadre of career civil servants who purportedly sought to bring him down at any cost. As I noted earlier this week, the goal here is to whitewash Trump’s own scandals and attribute them to his enemies.

But the real danger with Trump’s conquest of the DOJ is prospective, not retrospective.

But the real danger with Trump’s conquest of the DOJ is prospective, not retrospective. With Attorney General Bill Barr and other allies firmly entrenched within the department, the president wields more influence over federal criminal prosecutions than any president since Richard Nixon. What’s more, he appears to be eager to use those powers to advance his own personal political interests. The risk isn’t just that Trump will bring the department under the White House’s control but that he’ll incorporate it into his reelection campaign as well.

The numbers, all other things being equal, aren’t in Trump’s favor. Too many Americans are repelled by his immigration and health care policies, by his racism and sexism, and by his corruption and lawlessness to allow a normal path to victory, in which a president both attempts to keep his campaign promises while expanding his base of support. His election in 2016 was essentially a fluke of the Electoral College: Fewer than 100,000 votes in three Rust Belt states made it irrelevant that three million more Americans had voted for his opponent. What’s more, Trump’s unpopularity has only grown since taking office. Polls last month showed that half of Americans wanted the Senate to remove him from office over the Ukraine scandal.