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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say 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 employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, 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 highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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