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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different 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 US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

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

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“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 courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the government's objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently