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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently