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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

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

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees 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 efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

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

“The administration is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands 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 Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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