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The US President is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

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

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after starting a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’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 the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy 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 authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently