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Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

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

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection 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, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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