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The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats 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 customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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