Some time ago, I tried to speak about how a demagogue's random words become terroristic threats to those who are intended as the 'target' of those words. The post disappeared. How do we describe the psychology of terrorism except from the point of view of those held in protracted fear, that neither recedes nor escalates? The Sword of Damocles, waiting to drop, isn't scary unless you are under it. Colleges can be a safe place for some but not to all. The toddler who keeps watch for someone who is not coming home... 
A demagogue finds pleasure in the pain of others. It swells a sense of power and control without an action -- thats how it becomes terrorist threat, the any minute threat becomes fact. The threat will increase. Do this or the demagogue will cut of this funding, and that funding, and break your commitment through --- temptations through threats to a "greater good".  Gird your loins, this is going to be a long four years.