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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal 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 GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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