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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's online statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“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 police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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