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The US President does not usually take counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks 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 definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’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.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly 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 more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability 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 judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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