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The US President is not typically known for counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

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

“The government is looking around at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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