Maga Figures Back Bukele's Call for Trump to Target US Judiciary

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

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

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received support from Trump allies, such as an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm methods used by leaders in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a long series of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on Oregon justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, Trump directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased climate of risks and intimidation in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to 805 investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not only happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Threat Sources

Experts say that the threats are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have certainly fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the judiciary is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in recent years in several countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the models set by strongmen overseas.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust 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, academic 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 warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both specialized police units that sit institutionally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been spearheading the criticism on federal judges.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently