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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating 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 greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

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

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently