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The US President rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, 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 suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a product of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

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

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

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

Coercion Methods

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

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

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

Administration Aims

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