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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

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

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation 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 “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 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 ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

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

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

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

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy 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 current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor 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 escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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