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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

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

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity 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 court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading 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