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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

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

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models 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 laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently