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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

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

“The government is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

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

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review 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 Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows 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 federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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