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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Before returning to power 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 judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices 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 remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently