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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation'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 the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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