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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations 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 federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan 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 authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions 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 social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers 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 assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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