Trump Figures Endorse Bukele's Call for US President to Target American Judges

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

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts say that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a phase where the Trump administration is employing similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken government oversight.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued during social media attacks on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, attorney general Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's political agenda. Prior to returning to power recently, the president urged his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with threats and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the period since he re-entered the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or physical attacks committed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert 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 comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from White House allies and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months of this year, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's threats against judges have definitely driven online vitriol at judges and calls for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after commencing a second term despite constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for replacements hand picked by Bukele.

The action mirrored 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 Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine judicial independence in a system that provides no simple method for the president to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

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

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

Pointing to examples such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They directly attack the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They continue to reframe the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of weakening institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for court oversight and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

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

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“All understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are guarded by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Administration Aims

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