OUR PICKS: DEMOCRACY WATCHUnder Patel, F.B.I. Scours Its Records to Discredit Trump Opponents | How Trump Is Testing the Limits of the Presidency | Trump Doesn’t Need the Proud Boys Anymore, and more

Under Patel, F.B.I. Scours Its Records to Discredit Trump Opponents  (

As the F.B.I. has added payback to its portfolio, Republican lawmakers like Senator Charles E. Grassley have emerged as a clearinghouse for leaks and whistle-blowers.

Searching Reporters’ Homes, Suing Journalists and Repressing Citizen Dissent Are Well-Known Steps Toward Autocracy  (Konstantin Zhukov, The Conversation)
The FBI search of a Washington Post reporter’s home on Jan. 14, 2026, was a rare and intimidating move by an administration focused on repressing criticism and dissent.
In its story about the search at Hannah Natanson’s home, at which FBI agents said they were searching for materials related to a federal government contractor, Washington Post reporter Perry Stein wrote that “it is highly unusual and aggressive for law enforcement to conduct a search on a reporter’s home.”
And Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told The New York Times the raid was “intensely concerning,” and could have a chilling effect “on legitimate journalistic activity.”
Free speech and independent media play a vital role in holding governments accountable by informing the public about government wrongdoing.
This is precisely why autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin have worked to silence independent media, eliminating checks on their power and extending their rule. In Russia, for example, public ignorance about Putin’s responsibility for military failures in the war on Ukraine has allowed state propaganda to shift blame to senior military officials instead.
While the United States remains institutionally far removed from countries like Russia, the Trump administration has taken troubling early steps toward autocracy by threatening – and in some cases implementing – restrictions on free speech and independent media.

Why Renee Good Was, and Is, So Dangerous to Trump  (Adrian Carrasquillo, The Bulwark)
There are many ways to define an enemy. One is someone who isn’t afraid of you.

ICE Is Imposing Autocracy in Minnesota  (Damon Linker, Persuasion)
The state has become Trump’s most radical experiment with militarized government.

How Trump Is Testing the Limits of the Presidency  (Charlie Savage and Lazaro Gamio, New York Times)
In his second term, President Trump has sought to expand executive power in many ways.
One area where he is centralizing his authority is over the executive branch.
He is pushing a maximalist version of the unitary executive theory, which is the idea that presidents have absolute power over executive branch decision-making — even if Congress has enacted laws giving some independent discretion to officials at departments or agencies.
A circle chart showing the presidential powers Mr. Trump has sought for himself under the unitary executive theory.

Trump Doesn’t Need the Proud Boys Anymore  (David Gilbert, Wired)
In a world where ICE agents are shooting US citizens on the street, the need for militias and extremist groups like the Proud Boys to support far-right interests has evaporated.