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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

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

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands 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 co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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