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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere 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 third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

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

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

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

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

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

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument 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 public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently