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The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment 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 what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data 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. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. 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, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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