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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, 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 driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

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

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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