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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations 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 halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

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

Government Goals

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