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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal 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 decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

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

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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