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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online statement last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move 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 Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Coercion Methods

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

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited 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 assailant targeting the judge.

“All 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 Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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