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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

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

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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