Maga Supporters Endorse Bukele's Plea for US President to Crack Down on American Judges

The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by urging the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that Bukele's recent intervention occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a phase where the president's team is employing comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and his native the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's order to halt removal operations transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made amid social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the government's policy goals. Before resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed the first recorded year, and 2024, and is on track to top the previous year's high of 630 threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

Specialists say that the threats are a product of the language coming from top government officials.

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report claiming that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in several countries, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting pandemic policies, were replaced by new appointees selected by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's remodeling of the nation's judiciary in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has researched authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration 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 noted: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism 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