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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by former supporter 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 recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands 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.”

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

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government'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