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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, 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 Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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