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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to 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 over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march 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 legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president 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 authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions 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 “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently