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The US President is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

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 threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is observing 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.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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