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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as 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” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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