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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

“The government is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’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