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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading 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 just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements 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 Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently