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The US President rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

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

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls 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.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening 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 the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

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

Government Goals

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