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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the US president.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own 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 American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

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

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately 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 several justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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