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

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing at these successes 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 assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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