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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented 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 termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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