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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently