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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening 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.”

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 such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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