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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

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

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal 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 founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted 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 Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently