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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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