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The US President is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

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

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and violent threats 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 driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. 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 court oversight 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 “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently