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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely 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 instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march 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 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal 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 decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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