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The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” 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 Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In several years ago, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

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 warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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