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Donald Trump is not typically known for advice, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to flatter and admire the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, including an X post by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his country's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media criticism on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders preventing Trump from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into the city, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

Experts say 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 reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is looking around 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 presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave 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 Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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