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The US President rarely accepts counsel, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the White House to follow his example in removing so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered 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.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

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

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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