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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including 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 say that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unprecedented dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during online criticism on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by repeating their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

On the administration’s aims, the expert said that “impeaching a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently