Trump Figures Endorse Bukele's Call for US President to Target US Judges

Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also garnered backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also made amid online attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Before returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is likely to top the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product 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 reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They directly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to redefine the debate by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited 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 aiming at Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a federal judge is highly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently