Konstantin Zhukov says that an FBI raid of a journalist’s home last week is not an isolated incident but part of an ongoing escalation since President Donald Trump took office.
by Judith Ruiz-BranchPublic News Service
A Midwest professor is sounding the alarm on what he called the Trump administration’s authoritarian tactics to quell the press, free speech and other constitutional rights, stressing everyone should be paying attention. Konstantin Zhukov, assistant professor of economics at Indiana University-Kokomo, argued the FBI raid of a journalist’s home last week is not an isolated incident but part of an ongoing escalation since President Donald Trump took office a year ago. He emphasized as someone originally from Russia, he recognized it as a familiar autocratic move. "It's the story that you usually hear in Russia," Zhukov explained. "It's a common instrument that the Russian authorities use in order to scare the journalists, to signal to them that they shouldn't do their work essentially, that they shouldn't keep the government accountable." Zhukov pointed to recent volatile policing and immigration protest dynamics in states like Illinois and Minnesota as another big concern. Last week, Chicago officials joined an Illinois lawsuit challenging allegedly unlawful and unconstitutional immigration enforcement. The Trump administration called the lawsuit “baseless” and defends its immigration actions as enforcing federal law. Zhukov links current trends to broader free speech risks, asserting after the murder of Charlie Kirk last year, an administration-issued memorandum sets a dangerous precedent by enabling a broad classification of domestic terrorism. He argued it could potentially include anyone who disagrees with the administration’s agenda. While he believes American institutions are strong enough to withstand the current administration, Zhukov stressed how much they are being weakened and how future administrations could undermine them more severely. "The precedent that I think it sets is that the administration will just keep pushing the boundaries of what is accepted of the executive power to do," Zhukov projected. Zhukov recommended countermeasures like voting in the midterm elections and continuing to speak out peacefully to normalize dissent and widen public discourse. He emphasized recognizing autocratic tactics is essential to combating them. "What is happening right now is very dangerous and it's a classic playbook of the autocrats," Zhukov underscored. "The more people understand that these are the steps toward autocracy, the better."
