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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

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

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating 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 legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently