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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is looking around at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of broad executive power, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently