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The US President is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians 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 weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited 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 the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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