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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently