Trump Figures Back El Salvador Leader's Plea for Trump to Target American Judges

Donald Trump is not typically known for guidance, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, El Salvador's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct approach by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted Bukele's calls to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks come at a time of unmatched threats to judicial independence and individual judges in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar authoritarian tactics employed by rulers in nations such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken democratic accountability.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the American judiciary, including a March claim that the US was “facing a court takeover,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to halt removal operations transporting accused undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a latest press gaggle.

The judge had issued restraining orders preventing the administration from mobilizing the military reserves, first in the state then in the West Coast state. The president has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has described as “war-ravaged” based on small, non-violent demonstrations outside the city's federal building.

Record of Attacking Judges

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to returning to power this year, Trump directed his supporters against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and harassment.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have pointed to a increased climate of threats and coercion in the period since he returned to the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 threats to 395 federal judges, leading to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed the first recorded year, and last year, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine instances of threats, targeting, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Insights on Root Causes

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with rising violent posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls 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.”

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

International Strongman Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been well-trodden in recent years in several nations, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, Bukele’s allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the constitutional court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by rejecting pandemic policies, made way for new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that offers no easy way for the president to remove judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has studied democratic decline in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration 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.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s persistent claims of nearly limitless presidential authority, she noted: “They openly criticize the judiciary by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

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

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their capacity to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of weakening 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, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a wave of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

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

“US justices are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are specialized police units that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been spearheading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's aims, the expert said that “impeaching a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s so hard to do. {Right now|Currently