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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt 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 Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say 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 comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, right after starting a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The administration 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.

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. 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 judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently