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The US President rarely accepts advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

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

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has more power 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 ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“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 federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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