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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and compliment the US president.

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

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters 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 first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as 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 customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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