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Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

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

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian methods used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send troops into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before returning to power this year, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The administration is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their claim that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding 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 democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “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 murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting 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 presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that are placed institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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