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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week 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 “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government'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