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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

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

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” 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 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

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

Administration Aims

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