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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating 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 authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding 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 social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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