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

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

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

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” Scheppele said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently