What did Donald Trump do today?

He used the power of his office to try to silence criticism of him, on a slightly different target this time.

The Trump administration sent letters today to conservative organizations that had partnered with the White House Office of Public Liaison. As the Wall Street Journal reports, it contained an unsubtle threat for groups that failed to toe the Trump line, which was highlighted in yellow in the letter:

As always, we are monitoring statements, press releases, and media engagements from your organizations.

Of course, under the Constitution, federal offices are not supposed to police free speech like this—particularly when it involves criticism of the government. Trump, who is extremely sensitive to criticism even when things are going well, has used the power of his office to try to threaten his political opponents into silence countless times.

That has always included Republicans who displease him: for example, Trump never forgave Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for not supporting his candidacy or voting exactly as he demanded, and eventually their relationship soured to the point where staffers had to secretly order a Navy ship named after McCain's father moved so that Trump wouldn't see it on an overseas port visit and become enraged. More recently, Trump has succeeded in purging the party of almost every elected Republican who voted for his impeachment or removal from office. He also hounded several sitting Republican senators he dislikes out of office this year—only to see Democrats win their seats over the relatively unpopular Trump loyalists he chose to replace them.

But this is the first time since the 2016 primary season that Trump has been forced (as he sees it) to threaten Republicans writ large with consequences for speaking their minds. He has good reason to worry: recriminations are coming fast and furious from all quarters of the party, ranging from the College Republicans up to his own vice-president. It's hard to find any elected Republicans who survived Tuesday's elections offering the full-throated support that Trump demands today.

The WSJ article listed several organizations whose rebuke of Trump's second term likely caught his attention. They include an anti-tax group that called Trump's enormous tariffs a "self-inflicted political wound," and an anti-abortion organization furious that Trump had spent "years telling your base to sit down and shut up" while accomplishing nothing.

But even as he threatens them, Trump continues to insist that he is universally beloved within the party: as recently as Election Day, he demanded that Fox News acknowledge his "99%" approval rating with Republican voters. (In reality, Trump has become so toxic among Republican voters that he was underwater with them on key issues like cost of living, something almost unheard of with an incumbent president's own party members.)

Why does this matter?

• Americans of all political persuasions have the right to criticize Donald Trump, no matter how much it bothers Donald Trump that this is true. 

• Authoritarian regimes almost always get to the point where the inner party feels the need to attack the outer party to prevent defections. (It never works.)