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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

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

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’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