Trump Figures Back Bukele's Plea for Trump to Target US Judiciary

Donald Trump is not typically known for counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by urging the White House to emulate his actions in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received backing from Trump allies, such as an social media message by one-time close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has previously amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and ridicule of a federal judge's order to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent media briefing.

Immergut had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the national guard, first in the state then in California. Trump has been eager to send soldiers into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Experts state that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in several countries, such as by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five justices on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched democratic decline in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing examples such as the advisor's relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize 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 emphasizing their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

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

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the likes of Orbán and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘Your address is known. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both dedicated police units that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s objectives, 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