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

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system 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.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently