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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as 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 Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

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

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

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

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“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 federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently