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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

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

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is looking around 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.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently