Trump Supporters Back El Salvador Leader's Plea for US President to Crack Down on US Judges

The US President is not typically known for guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

However, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by urging the White House to emulate his actions in impeaching so-called “dishonest judges.”

His appeal for the president to move against the US judiciary also garnered support from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter Elon Musk, who has in the past amplified Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Threats to Court Autonomy

Analysts say that Bukele's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using comparable strong-arm tactics used by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, India, and Bukele's own El Salvador to weaken democratic accountability.

The president's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and claims he has leveled against the US's legal system, including a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to stop deportation flights transporting accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Oregon Justice

The Salvadoran's impeachment call was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's federal judge Judge Immergut by presidential advisor Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered restraining orders preventing the administration from deploying the military reserves, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to send soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Justices

Miller, the former AG, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have ruled against Trump's executive orders or in other ways hindered the government's political agenda. Prior to resuming office recently, the president urged his supporters against judges overseeing his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, police departments, and judges themselves have highlighted a increased atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the White House.

Rising Threat Statistics

Based on data collected by the US Marshals Service, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to 805 inquiries. 2025 has already surpassed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed 2023's record of 630 threats.

The dangers are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's Bridging Divides Initiative indicates that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or physical attacks directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Analysis on Threat Sources

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

In spring, the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) published a comprehensive report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and supporters align with escalating violent posts on online platforms.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and violent threats against judges across digital networks from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly driven digital abuse at judges and demands for ouster. Targeting the courts is another move in Trump’s advance towards strongman rule.”

International Authoritarian Playbook

This progression towards authoritarianism has been common in the past decade in multiple countries, including by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, right after commencing a new term in the face of legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to dismiss the country’s top prosecutor and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had provoked his ire by ruling against coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by Bukele.

The action echoed the Hungarian leader's overhaul of Hungary’s court system several years back; the Turkish president's judicial purges recently; and efforts at similar moves in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Experts explain that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration opposes.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had taken cues from the examples set by strongmen abroad.

“The government is looking around at these successes and failures. 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 broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the judiciary by stating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the separation of powers.

“They persist in reframe the debate by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for judicial review and for democracy.”

Intimidation Tactics

Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and Putin, and has spoken out about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of so-called “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as a name, the child of Justice Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 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 Secret Service 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

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