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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

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

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

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

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary 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 repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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