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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

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

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

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

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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