Trump Figures Endorse El Salvador Leader's Call for Trump to Crack Down on US Judiciary

Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, especially from foreign leaders who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

However, the Central American nation's authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has adopted a different approach by calling on the Trump administration to emulate his actions in impeaching what he terms “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to take action against the American court system also received backing from Trump allies, such as an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously boosted the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Threats to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that Bukele's recent remarks occur of unmatched threats to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the Trump administration is using comparable strong-arm methods used by leaders in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was one more in a string of provocations and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's harsh correctional facilities.

Criticism on Federal Judge

Bukele's impeachment call was also made during social media attacks on the state's justice Judge Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and the president himself in a recent press gaggle.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing Trump from mobilizing the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. The president has been eager to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Attacking Justices

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a long record of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Before resuming office this year, Trump urged his supporters against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the justices have highlighted a heightened atmosphere of threats and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on information gathered by the federal agency, in 2025 through the third quarter, there were 562 incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, leading to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and last year, and is likely to top 2023's record of 630 threats.

The threats are not just happening at the national level. Information by Princeton's research project shows that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the threats are a result of the language coming from senior administration figures.

In spring, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “malicious and reckless statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It recorded “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for impeachment and violent threats against judges across social media platforms from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is another move in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

International Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been well-trodden in the past decade in several nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In several years ago, right after commencing a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the supreme court. The justices, who had provoked his ire by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary in 2018; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and attempts at comparable actions in the Middle Eastern state and Poland.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be seen as efforts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that offers no easy way for the executive to remove judges Trump disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the White House had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The government is observing at these achievements 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 Miller’s relentless assertions of broad executive power, she noted: “They openly criticize the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

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

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for the political system.”

Intimidation Tactics

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unwanted pizza deliveries with the customer listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that sit institutionally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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