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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

“The government is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats 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 child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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