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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science 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 dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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