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The US President does not usually take guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters 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 risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration 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 authoritarians overseas.

“The government is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly 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 repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

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

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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