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The US President rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different 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 received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

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

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric 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 supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion 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' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

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 threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently