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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks 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 detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by 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 court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, 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 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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