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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements 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 persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave 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 several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

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

Administration Aims

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