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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

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

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise 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 Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine 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' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening 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 democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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