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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different 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 American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online statement 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 “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal 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 directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a 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 other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

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

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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