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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

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

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred 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 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection 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, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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