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The US President does not usually take advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation'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 echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

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