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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

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 leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

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

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly 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 more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust 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 sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently