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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

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

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, 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 judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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