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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only 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 state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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