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The US President does not usually take advice, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around 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 Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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