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The US President rarely accepts advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

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

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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