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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, 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. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability 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.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, 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 several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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