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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone 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 Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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