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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability 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, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently