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

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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