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The US President is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

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

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, 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 period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment 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.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“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 undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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