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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project 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 Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

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

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently