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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine 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 democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“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 undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently