The former White House national security adviser — whom Trump has vowed to hire again if he wins in November — added: “There’s a way to get after this, but we have to win first.”

Michael Flynn, who served as national security adviser in the Trump administration, let his fascist flag fly at a Christian nationalist event Friday.

In a video recorded at the Rod of Iron Freedom Festival in northeastern Pennsylvania, Flynn responded to an attendee’s question about military tribunals and potential executions of Donald Trump’s perceived adversaries if Trump returns to the White House. The former president has vowed that Flynn, whom Trump pardoned after the retired Army lieutenant general pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, would serve in his administration if he’s elected this fall.

The attendee asked:

Is there any chance that, should the election go in a positive result, you would get your rank reinstated and sit at the head of a military tribunal to not only drain the swamp but imprison the swamp — and, on a few occasions, execute the swamp?

The man’s remark was met with applause from this apparently bloodthirsty crowd. And you can hear in Flynn’s response that he’s hesitant about offering a full-throated public endorsement of this idea. But he walked right up to the line.

“What your sentiment is about is accountability,” said Flynn, adding that the Founding Fathers had a similar priority.

“I definitely believe we need accountability,” he said.

“Your question went into some other areas,” Flynn added with a laugh, before concluding: “I think a lot of people actually think like you do, and I think that that’s your right and our privilege. ... There’s a way to get after this, but we have to win first.”

Flynn’s closing remarks offered a frightening window into the havoc he intends to wreak if Trump wins:

I’m about winning. We have to win. And these people are already up to no good. So, we gotta win first. We win, and then, “Katy, bar the door.” OK? Believe me: The gates of hell — my hell — will be unleashed.

As my MSNBC colleague Steve Benen just explained, Trump is now openly floating the idea of deploying the military against his critics if he’s elected. It’s easy to imagine Flynn being part of that violent plan.