I agree it's mostly likely just political 'bloviating'. But the Patriot Act did happen and we did create the category of 'enhanced interrogation' and 'enemy combatant'. If I were to tell my grandparents that was going to pass in the 90s they'd have said the same thing; just political bloviating.

So you'll have to forgive me if I take the governments own words as a sign to be defensive about what the government might do, even if it is unlikely.