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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

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

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was one more 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 court's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, 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. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; 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 seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” 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 “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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