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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

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 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices 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 action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. 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 judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding 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