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The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align 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 January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these successes 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 relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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