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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

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

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing 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 public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts 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 sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently