Over the past several days, the apocalyptic rhetoric surrounding the presidential election has metastasized into political violence and the very real fear that Donald Trump’s claims that the electoral system is “rigged” could do lasting harm to the democratic system. “The election of Hillary Clinton would lead, in my opinion, to the almost total destruction of our country as we know it,” Trump raved before a crowd of thousands at a rally in Ocala, Florida, last week. On Sunday, he warned on Twitter that “The election is absolutely being rigged.” Hillary Clinton, for her part, has characterized Trump as an unbalanced demagogue whose finger on the nuclear trigger could put the entire world in danger.

The sharp uptick in eschatological exhortations has led to growing fears of reprisals, whether Donald Trump wins or loses the election on November 8. Already, there have been several instances of political violence, with two incidents over the past weekend alone. On Friday, three men were arrested in Kansas for plotting to blow up a housing complex home to Somali immigrants after Election Day. The attack on the compound, which includes a mosque, was designed to “wake people up,” U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said. Then, on Sunday, a local G.O.P. office in North Carolina was firebombed by unknown assailants, with a warning spray-painted outside demanding that “Nazi Republicans leave town or else.”

The Republican Party has struggled to dampen the agitation in its ranks, even as Trump has stoked the anger of his millions of supporters. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, recently had to calm down a woman at a rally who suggested she was ready for political revolution if Clinton is elected president. Trump, meanwhile, has spent much of the past weeks doing the exact opposite. In recent days, Trump has claimed that the mounting allegations against him of sexual harassment and assault are part of a global conspiracy against him, including the media, his accusers, and even Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. “It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities,” Trump said at one rally last week. “We’ve seen this firsthand in the WikiLeaks documents in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends, and her donors.” And he has insisted that if he loses the election—as the latest polls suggest he will—that it will be because the results were rigged and G.O.P. leadership conspired against him.

The firebombing of the G.O.P. office in North Carolina only further inflamed the Republican nominee, who blamed the attack on “animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems . . . because we are winning.” (Clinton, for her part, tweeted that what happened was “horrific and unacceptable,” and said she is "very grateful that everyone is safe.” Democrats have since raised more than $13,000 to help rebuild the office.)

While Clinton has not engaged in the same kind of fiery rhetoric, instead mostly sticking to the “Stronger Together” slogan of her campaign, Clinton allies and surrogates have been less restrained in demonizing Trump, portraying him as a proto-fascist and warning of possible recrimination and retaliation if he loses. Whomever is responsible for firebombing the G.O.P. office, it is clear the apocalyptic stakes of the upcoming election are driving Americans nuts. Eroding faith in U.S. political institutions, and the possibility of further violence, is the latest dark turn in an already execrable election cycle.