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

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several 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 the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' 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 hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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