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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls 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 the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently