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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts 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 tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, 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. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice 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 global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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