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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; 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

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently