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

Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, particularly from international figures who frequently attempt to flatter and compliment the US president.

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

His appeal for Trump to take action against the US judiciary also received backing from Maga figures, including an X post by former supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified the Salvadoran's demands to oust US judges.

Growing Risks to Judicial Independence

Analysts note that the leader's latest intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and specific justices in the US, and during a period where the president's team is using similar authoritarian methods employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, India, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media call last week was just the latest in a string of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring claim that the US was “experiencing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt removal operations transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued during online criticism on Oregon federal judge Karin Immergut by White House aide Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had issued injunctions preventing the administration from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in the West Coast state. Trump has been pushing to send troops into the city, which the president has described as “battle-scarred” based on limited, peaceful protests outside the urban homeland security facility.

History of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and the entrepreneur have a history of attacking judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the administration's policy goals. Prior to resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges overseeing his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and harassment.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened atmosphere of risks and intimidation in the period since he returned to the White House.

Increasing Risk Data

According to data gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the end of September, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is likely to top 2023's record of over six hundred threats.

The threats are not only happening at the federal level. Information by the university's research project indicates that there have been at least fifty-nine cases of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Root Causes

Specialists state that the threats are a result of the rhetoric coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report alleging that “harmful and reckless statements from Trump administration members and supporters coincide with escalating aggressive posts on social media.” It noted “a 54% increase in demands for impeachment and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from the first two months 2025, the first full month of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of the organization, said: “Trump’s threats against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Playbook

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

In several years ago, immediately after starting a new term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the nation's attorney general and five justices on the supreme court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, made way for new appointees selected by the leader.

The action echoed Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups in 2019; and attempts at similar moves in Israel and the European country.

Undermining Judicial Independence

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

Leonard, an associate professor at Illinois State University who has researched democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by strongmen abroad.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the judiciary,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as Miller’s relentless assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she noted: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by repeating their argument that the executive has more power than this other co-equal branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' sole safeguard is public trust in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those decisions. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges think twice about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, professor of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has written about the use of “authoritarian law” by the likes of the Hungarian and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “pizza doxxings” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the customer listed as a name, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was killed at the judge’s home in 2020 by a gunman aiming at Salas.

“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 these are dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been leading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

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