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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

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, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation 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 remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning 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 “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child 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. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently