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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is looking around 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.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“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 separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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