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Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to praise and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during social media criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly criticize the judiciary 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 argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal 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 eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's aims, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently