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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

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

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing 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 Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers 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 Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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