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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

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

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently