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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct 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 Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

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 spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration 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 judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, 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