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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal 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: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

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 escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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