Maga Supporters Back Bukele's Call for US President to Crack Down on US Judges

The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who frequently seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by one-time close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing comparable strong-arm methods employed by leaders in countries such as Turkey, the European state, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement recently was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has made against the US's legal system, including a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a court's order to stop deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially 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, peaceful protests outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Justices

The advisor, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, Trump urged his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to exceed 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Experts say that the threats are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% rise in demands for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

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

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in the past decade in multiple countries, including by Bukele.

In 2021, right after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several justices on the supreme court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had learned from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is observing at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any laws that would weaken the judiciary,” she said.

Citing instances such as the advisor's relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly criticize the courts by stating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' only protection is public trust in the authority of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, 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 residence in several years ago by a gunman targeting the judge.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And those are both specialized police units that sit structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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