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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call recently was just the latest in a long series 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 his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

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

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

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

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented 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 series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently