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Donald Trump rarely accepts advice, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

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

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim 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 rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

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

She highlighted a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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