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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise 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.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’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 rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

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

“The administration is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently