Maybe this in and of itself doesn’t mean anything, but a cursory scan of Trump spokesminion Liz Harrington’s Twitter feed shows no new statements from the Donald since the arrest of his friend and advisor Tom Barrack was first reported shortly before 3:00 pm on Tuesday afternoon.

Admittedly we at National Zero kind of left it alone. Sure, we reported the news when it broke, and beat those dickheads at the other site to boot, but we may have under-appreciated the significance at the time, in part due to a focus on certain other projects, though probably mostly because it’s not 2018 anymore and we’re no longer religiously Palmer Report-reading walking encyclopedias of the miasma of corruption that surrounded the MAGA Reich. What probably would’ve thrilled us three years ago was mostly a meh. Maybe we’re numb to disappointment of the promise of justice being delivered being continually broken that we don’t recognize progress when we see it, or maybe it’s the complex nature of the charges, but it’s still not quite lighting our hair on fire.

That said, apparently it’s pretty bad and Barrack is fucked. And he’s not just a “coffee boy” or a Lindsey Graham-type ass-kisser, but a close friend and advisor he has a genuine relationship with. Federal charges laying out at a conspiracy to influence US foreign policy is a hell of a lot worse than being indicted for simple tax fraud. Maybe Trump will put out a raging statement soon like he did regarding the New York State charges against his company and CFO. Or maybe his silence on the matter means nothing. But it’s also quite possible that Barrack’s arrest represents a serious threat to Trump and his lawyers told him to keep his mouth shut lest he box himself in this early.