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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration 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 judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority 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, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently