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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

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

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record 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 fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings 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.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently