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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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