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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods used 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.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

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

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

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

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently