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The US President is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers 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, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard 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 judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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