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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; 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 court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, 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 laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine 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' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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