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

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone 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 specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently