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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

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

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther 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,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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