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The US President rarely accepts guidance, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

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

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

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

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians 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 judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, 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 written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

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

Government Goals

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