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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack 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 argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust 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 current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at 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 these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently