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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by Bukele.

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

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows 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 law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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