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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms 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 certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration 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.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over 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 more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“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 Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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