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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

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

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media call recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to exceed 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize 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 emphasizing their claim 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 people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the government's aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently