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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

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

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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