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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, 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 Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

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

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

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

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls 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 founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” 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 separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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