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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. 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.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

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

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently