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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” 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 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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 second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor'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 co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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