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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

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

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

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

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president'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, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration 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 enact any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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