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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts 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

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child 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. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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