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The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was one more in a string of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state 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 detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of weakening trust in courts 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.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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