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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 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 surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

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

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats 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 “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“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.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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