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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples 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 courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned 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 son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently