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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online statement recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, 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

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton'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 the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. 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.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son 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,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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