The US President does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.
However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”
The call for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.
Experts note that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.
Bukele's online statement recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.
The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.
Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.
The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.
Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.
Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.
The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.
Specialists 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 comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”
Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”
That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.
In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.
The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.
Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.
Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration 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 judiciary,” she said.
Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.
“They persist in reframe the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”
Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”
Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.
She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.
“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.
“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”
Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently
A seasoned casino analyst with over a decade of experience in online gambling, specializing in slot machine reviews and player strategy.
News
News