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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation 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 president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy 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 sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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