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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. 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 democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently