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The US President does not usually take guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms 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 certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration is observing 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.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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