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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

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

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation 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 alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

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

International Authoritarian Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine 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 people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On 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