Maga Supporters Back Bukele's Call for Trump to Crack Down on American Judges

The US President rarely accepts counsel, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and compliment the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different approach by calling on the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the American court system also received backing from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine government oversight.

Bukele's online statement recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights sending suspected illegal immigrants to his country's harsh prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president personally in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, non-violent protests outside the city's federal building.

History of Attacking Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the administration's policy goals. Before resuming office this year, the president directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have pointed to a increased atmosphere of risks and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Increasing Risk Data

Based on information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. This year has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, harassment, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is another move in the administration's march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

That march towards autocracy has been common in recent years in multiple nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, immediately after commencing a new term despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at comparable actions in Israel and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the intimidation and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that provides no simple method for the president to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing instances such as the advisor's persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They directly criticize the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

The professor said: “Justices' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, academic of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unwanted food orders with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“All understands what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” Scheppele said.

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

On the administration’s objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is highly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently