Because they can do anything they want with no repercussions.
That's it, that's all there is.
I mean it could also be to make people fear being watched/rolled up at any moment.
This makes a lot of sense. Some people will think twice about writing an article like that again. (unfortunately)
Because all of their claims are pig shit. I am personally one to extend a large assumption of good faith. And I'm not some Democratic partisan but rather a libertarian who would say "both sides" as recently as 2020. But after years of steelmanning and trying to engage with where they are coming from, at this point the dynamic is irrefutable - claiming to want freedom of speech, claiming other American freedoms like gun rights, claiming to want law and order, claiming to care about spending or inflation, claiming to want small government, claiming to want accountability, draping themselves in the flag while claiming to love this country, claiming to be the victims of their fellow citizens' unwarranted criticism - all of these references to lofty ideals are just to abuse good people's assumption of good faith while running interference for autocratic authoritarianism, red in tooth and claw, as they burn this country to the ground with their whiny grievance politics.