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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 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 top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently