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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

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

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups 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 attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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