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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“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 judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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