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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation 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 executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently