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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record 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 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism 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 so hard to do. {Right now|Currently