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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

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

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding 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

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone understands 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 are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently