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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“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 courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. 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, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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