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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology 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 so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence 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.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently