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The US President is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

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

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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