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The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

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

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority 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. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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