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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

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

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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