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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

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 fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently