@sjtrny @RecDiffs it's not that -- I'd say a new use of a common General American English feature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-glottalization#Glottal_reinforcement_(pre-glottalization)

Speakers unconsciously reanalyze word phonology all the time, and so Merlin’s ‘important’ is [ɪm.ˈpʰɔɹ.tənt] and the new one is [ɪm.ˈpʰɔɹʔ.n̩ʔ/]. The /t/ was once initial in the last syllable, but is now undersood as syllable-final in the second syllable, and so comes out as glottal stop. Also, because the last syllable has no onset, it becomes syllabilized /n/ ([n̩]).