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

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call 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 boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

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

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries 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 assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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