Maga Figures Endorse Bukele's Plea for US President to Target American Judiciary

The US President is not typically known for advice, particularly from international figures who often attempt to praise and admire the US president.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in removing so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal 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 supporter Elon Musk, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Judicial Independence

Experts say that the leader's recent remarks occur of unprecedented threats to court autonomy and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in countries such as Türkiye, the European state, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's online call recently was one more in a long series of provocations and claims he has leveled against the American judiciary, such as a March assertion that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during online attacks on Oregon justice Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, attorney general Pam Bondi, Elon Musk, and the president himself in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions blocking Trump from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's homeland security facility.

Record of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or otherwise hindered the administration's policy goals. Before returning to power this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with threats and harassment.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and the justices have highlighted a increased atmosphere of threats and coercion in the months since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 reported incidents.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks directed against judges on the local level in 2025.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

Specialists state that the intimidation are a product of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from White House allies and allies align with rising aggressive posts on social media.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is one more step in the administration's advance towards strongman rule.”

Global Strongman Tactics

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

In 2021, right after starting a second term despite legal bans, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the country’s attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken judicial independence in a structure that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration opposes.

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

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

Citing instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They directly attack the judiciary by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the executive has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the current administration, which is, of course, massively problematic for judicial review and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was killed at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at Salas.

“Everyone knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. You are a target,’” the professor said.

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

Administration Aims

Regarding the administration’s aims, Scheppele said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently