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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 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 federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited 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 assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently