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

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action 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 Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and efforts 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 dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a 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: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently