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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently