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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, 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 made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently