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

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

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

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently