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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts 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 comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane 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 Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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