Trump Figures Endorse Bukele's Plea for Trump to Target US Judges

Donald Trump does not usually take advice, especially from international figures who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention come at a time of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the leader has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to 395 federal judges, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched 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 failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any legislation that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe 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.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority 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, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Government Goals

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