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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal 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: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial 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 rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening 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.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

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

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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