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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order 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 made amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising 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 customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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