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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove 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 successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats 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 the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently