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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances 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 persist in redefine the debate by repeating 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: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation 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 judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant 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 Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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