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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to praise and compliment the US president.

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 “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

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

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently