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

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement 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 “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation 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 co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing at these successes 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 persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” 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 “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’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