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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

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

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 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 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal 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 founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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