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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’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, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has more power 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 legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently