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

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

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

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “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 aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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