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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

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

“The government is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent claims 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 debate by repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently