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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights 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 “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” 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.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government 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.

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly 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 greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently