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

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

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

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government 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 examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently