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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration 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 models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently