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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager 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.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic 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 Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently