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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

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

The call for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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