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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

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

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising 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 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats 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 threats, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults 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.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands 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 Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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