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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

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 White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats 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 authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently