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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government 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 relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently