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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say 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.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless 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 separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently