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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

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

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these successes 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 Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine 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 legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice 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. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, 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