Trump Supporters Endorse Bukele's Call for US President to Target US Judiciary

The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has adopted a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable authoritarian tactics used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement recently was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, including a spring claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting accused illegal immigrants to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

History of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Risk Data

According to information collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to 805 investigations. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

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 violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Specialists state that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have definitely driven digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several nations, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen overseas.

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

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent 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 argument that the president has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening 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 the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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