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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of 630 threats.

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

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, 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 escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

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

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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