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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

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

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently