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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say 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 disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians 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.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently