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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands 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 co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government 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 courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, 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 termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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