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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

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 comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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