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Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who frequently seek to flatter 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 “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also garnered support from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly 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 separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding 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.”

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 Orbán and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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