Early in the second presidential debate, Donald Trump uttered some chilling words about Hillary Clinton. In an exchange about Clinton’s email scandal, Trump said, “I’ll tell you what, I didn’t think I’d say this and I’m going to say it and hate to say it: If I win, I’m going to instruct the attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there’s never been so many lies, so much deception.” A few minutes later Clinton replied, “It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law of our country.” To which Trump interjected, “Because you’d be in jail.”

Here was a truly disturbing moment: A political candidate for the highest office in America was stating that his goal is not just to defeat his rival in the ballot box, but actually to imprison her. Trump was of course playing to his base, the riled-up GOP voters who shout “lock her up” at his rallies. But in throwing red meat to the most incensed part of his electorate, Trump revealed both his strategy for the evening and the likely path of the closing phase of the presidential election.

Trump has decided on a “burn it down” strategy because that’s the one way he can hope to keep together his splintering Republican Party support. Which tells us two things: One, Trump has given up hopes of appealing to a wider electorate. Two, his pitch, from here on out, will be a purely negative one.

Although Trump might still occasionally mouth the slogan “Make America Great Again,” his real message now is “Punish Our Enemies.” Even when he repeats his greatest hits (promising extreme vetting of refugees and declaring that inner cities are hell), his voice had an angrier edge.

Trump was never a happy warrior, exactly, but he had some zest in the primaries. There was a hearty gusto in the way he insulted Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio. That gusto was gone tonight, replaced by pure agitation and irritation.