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Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the US president.

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

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending accused undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Attacking Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of risks and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to 805 investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, such as by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent claims of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the courts by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the debate 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 authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

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

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

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that sit 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 “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently