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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 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 only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

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 coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

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

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently