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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

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

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed 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 rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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