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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions 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 social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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