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Donald Trump does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during social media attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently