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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, 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 his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first 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 federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say 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 claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority 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 authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently