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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests 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 Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university'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 Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government 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 instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' 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 hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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