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The US President is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine 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 free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is observing 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.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening 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.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently