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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online statement recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls 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.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. 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, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

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

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently