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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter 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 take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online statement 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 assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive 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 capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy 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

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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