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The US President rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call 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 previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy 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 free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. 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, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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