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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

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

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out 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 unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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