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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, 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 Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history 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 supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading 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 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

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

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

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

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

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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