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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric 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 supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

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

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently