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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

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 intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks 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 May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the government's objectives, 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