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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president 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 US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists 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 “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

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

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently