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The US President is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert 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 reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide 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 January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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