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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire 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 impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result 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 White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

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

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing 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 people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats 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 judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

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

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently