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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging 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 Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online 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 assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard 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 judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

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

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone 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 specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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