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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

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

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement 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 judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert 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 reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

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 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 courts,” she said.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate 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: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently