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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

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

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

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently