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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising 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.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

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

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation 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

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

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

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently