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

Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to praise and compliment the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Growing Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

The president's online call last week was just the latest in a string of provocations and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media criticism on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. This year has already surpassed 2022, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in several nations, including by Bukele.

In several years ago, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

“The government is observing 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.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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