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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has made 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 order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on the state's federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a new term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. 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 democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently