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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

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

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after starting a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president 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 authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “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 killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently