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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst 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 reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around 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.

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

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

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection 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 hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

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

She pointed to a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, 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 judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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