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

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

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

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts 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 president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

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

“The government is observing at these achievements and setbacks. 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 relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' 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 hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats 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 a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement 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 government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently