Trump Supporters Endorse Bukele's Call for Trump to Crack Down on US Judges

Donald Trump rarely accepts counsel, especially from international figures who often seek to praise and admire the American leader.

But, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to move against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, such as an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native the Central American country to undermine government oversight.

The president's online statement recently was one more in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March assertion that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also made during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking the administration from mobilizing the national guard, first in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send troops into Portland, which the leader has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on limited, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with intimidation and harassment.

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

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to nearly four hundred US justices, leading to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already surpassed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to top 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of threats, targeting, stalking, or violence committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Analysis on Root Causes

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

In spring, the watchdog group published a comprehensive report alleging that “malicious and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February 2025, the initial period of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

International Strongman Playbook

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

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of legal bans, Bukele’s parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the nation's attorney general and several judges on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move echoed the Hungarian leader's remodeling of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive 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 examples set by authoritarians abroad.

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

Citing examples such as Miller’s relentless claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They directly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the discussion by repeating their claim that the executive has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their ability 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 judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at Princeton University, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the customer listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the residence in 2020 by a gunman targeting Salas.

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

“US justices are guarded by the presidential protection and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated police units that sit structurally inside the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi has been leading the attacks on federal judges.”

Government Goals

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