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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the American court system also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued 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 ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority 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, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice 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. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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