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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues 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 weaken the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' 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 judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently