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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online 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 spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

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

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

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

“The government is looking around at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding 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