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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system 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 oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

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

Rising Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies 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 January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions 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 offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack 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 executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation 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 sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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