Trump Supporters Back Bukele's Plea for Trump to Crack Down on American Judiciary

The US President does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the US president.

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

His appeal for Trump to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by one-time supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's latest remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable authoritarian methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into the city, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to returning to power this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered 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 eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels 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 detailed report claiming that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and supporters align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in calls for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements selected by Bukele.

The move echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the current administration, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman aiming at the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

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