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The US President does not usually take advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was one more 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 judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor 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 warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently