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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly 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 more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone 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 federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently