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

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Threat Statistics

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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