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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

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

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

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

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

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