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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

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

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy 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.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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