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The US President does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president 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 ability to make those decisions. 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 court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

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

Administration Aims

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