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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent 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.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their claim 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 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, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently