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The US President rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

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

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor 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 hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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