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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

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

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks 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 fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by 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 recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. 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.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’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