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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard 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 judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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