“As far as I know, the First Amendment still prevails. You can talk all day long about “targeting” anyone. The law kicks in when you actually do it.”
Not sure about that. People can be arrested for conspiracy to commit crime. Think of all of the past arrests when people have attempted to hire a hit man, etc. and it turned out that the ‘hit man’ was an undercover police officer. Those people still get arrested, yet the actual ‘hit’ never took place.
The key phrase is "attempted to hire." That's an act, not just talk. When you act, then a law kicks in. Before that, it's just speech. If you just spout off about things, it's protected speech. If you start actively planning to commit a crime, and if you join with one or more other people who actively plan to commit a crime, then that's criminal conspiracy.