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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president 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 previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

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

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

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently