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Donald Trump does not usually take counsel, particularly from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase 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.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second 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 constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

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 offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is looking around at these achievements 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 Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine 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: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor 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 warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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