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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

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 period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

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

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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