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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call last week was just the latest 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 ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming 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 demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken 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 free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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