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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges 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 action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues 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 pass any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to 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.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments 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, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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