> threat to kill taken very seriously indeed
But if he's impersonating someone while making the threat "as them" specifically to get them in trouble, is it really a threat to be taken seriously? It can't possibly indicate harmful intent, as he knows the person he's impersonating isn't going to do anything. That said, if he'd robbed a bank wearing a Nixon mask[1], it's still a robbery. But that's an action, while the first is expression of intent--intent that does not exist.