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The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

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

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call 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 “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

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

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-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 other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

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

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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