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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a new term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument 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 public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, 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 son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

On the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently