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The US President does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

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

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned 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 pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently