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

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising 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 the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. 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 judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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