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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters 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 increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy 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 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 international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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