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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

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

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, 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. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief 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 sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently