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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

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

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“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 examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless 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 greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” 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 residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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