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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks 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 definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power 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 capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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