I don’t think it’s normal when “nearly 2000 former Justice Department officials” sign onto a letter calling for the Attorney General of the United States to resign, but that’s exactly what just happened. William Barr’s decision to intervene in the sentencing of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn would be bad enough, but attempting to drop the case when the man already accepted a deal and pleaded guilty is a bridge too far.

This follows the Justice Department’s appalling intervention in Roger Stone’s sentencing which caused all four prosecutors handling the case with withdraw and for Jonathan Kravis to outright resign. We’ve basically reached the end game now, where Trump has to reckon with the possibility that he won’t be reelected. It’s not going too far to say that most of the legal establishment that existed when Trump was sworn in believes he should be in prison. If Trump doesn’t clean things up before he goes–if he goes–there’s a good chance that he’ll spend his last days behind bars.

That’s not the only reason we’re seeing this insane and unprecedented behavior from the Justice Department. William Barr is trying desperately to help Trump get reelected. The two things are highly correlated, but they’re still distinct.

It’s true that getting reelected will make all Trump’s legal problems go away, but part of getting reelected is having the ability to change the narrative about his first term. If they can make the whole effort to investigate his Russian connections look corrupt and illegitimate, then he can improve his chances. He’d also like to avoid having to issue highly self-serving pardons if he can, at least until after November. So, making convictions go away or lessening their impact on the defendants will both help to keep them quiet and limit how much damage he takes on during this clean-up exercise.

He doesn’t have much margin for error, and he’s reportedly “glum and shell-shocked” by the polling he’s seeing. These drastic and desperate moves are raising the stakes of the election because if he gets away with them it will fundamentally alter and weaken our system of laws. The more he challenges our norms, the harsher the pushback and the more likely it is that he’ll pay a heavy price if he loses.

There’s definitely a bias in our country against retaliating against prior administrations, but Trump is taking things so far that he’s shattering the one norm that would protect him. Simply restoring the integrity of our institutions, including our legal system, will require that he answer for what he’s done. Every unprecedented move he makes is increasing his peril, which makes him act even more like a cornered and dangerous rat.