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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

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

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats 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 highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented 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 wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently