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The US President is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

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

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders 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 assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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