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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal 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 state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

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

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child 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 presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently