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The US President rarely accepts advice, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has adopted a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention come at a time of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's online call last week was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

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

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to send troops 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 Judges

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a result of the language 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 White House allies and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent rise in calls 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 certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for replacements selected by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument 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 legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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