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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues 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 pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’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