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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats 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.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

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

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability 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 the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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