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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say 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 comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation 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 executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

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

“The administration is looking around 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 examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

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

Government Goals

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