History rarely announces itself. It creeps in quietly, cloaked in the language of “law and order,” “national security,” and “patriotism.” But every now and then, it screams.

Last week, it screamed.

Donald Trump, now seated once again behind the Resolute Desk, and his Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, have openly threatened CNN with criminal prosecution for reporting on the existence and use of an app — ICEBlock — that alerts undocumented immigrants about nearby Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

This app, which is publicly available, and the reporting around it — likewise rooted in public records — is suddenly being framed as a “national security threat.”

Let’s be crystal clear about what’s happening: the President of the United States and his administration are threatening to jail journalists for doing their jobs.

This isn’t just an authoritarian flirtation. It’s a shot across the bow of American democracy. And it should chill every citizen who still believes in the sacred protections of the First Amendment and the role of a free press in our constitutional republic.

There’s a reason the Founders placed freedom of the press in the very First Amendment. They understood that tyranny doesn’t announce itself with tanks in the streets (although Trump has brought us that, too, in DC and Los Angeles): it begins when dissent is silenced and truth becomes optional. When the government gains the power to determine what is and isn’t “acceptable” journalism or citizen monitoring of government actions, democracy doesn’t just wobble. It collapses.

We’ve seen this movie before.