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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 US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

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

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and failures. 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 claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' 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 sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of 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” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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