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

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

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

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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