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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align 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 January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

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

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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