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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

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

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults 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 Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “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 emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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