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The US President is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

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

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples 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 courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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