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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Before returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' 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 hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently