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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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 detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

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

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation 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.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently