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The US President is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on 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 backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

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

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing 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 persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

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 very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently