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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

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

Rising Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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