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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the courts,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s objectives, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently