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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

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

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

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

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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