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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise 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 the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government 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 courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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