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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

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

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

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

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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