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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

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

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say 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 claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around 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.

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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