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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several 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 dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees 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 attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining 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 dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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