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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

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

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

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

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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