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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

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

“The government is observing at these successes and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

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

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently