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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, 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 urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline 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 pass any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. 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 court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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