Trump Supporters Endorse El Salvador Leader's Plea for US President to Target US Judges

Donald Trump does not usually take guidance, particularly from international figures who often seek to praise and compliment the American leader.

But, El Salvador's authoritarian leader Bukele has followed a different strategy by calling on the Trump administration to follow his example in removing what he terms “dishonest judges.”

The call for the president to take action against the US judiciary also received support from Trump allies, including an social media message by former supporter the billionaire, who has in the past amplified the Salvadoran's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's latest remarks occur of unmatched dangers to judicial independence and specific justices in the United States, and during a period where the Trump administration is employing similar strong-arm methods employed by rulers in nations such as Türkiye, Hungary, the Asian nation, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's online statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and claims he has made against the US's legal system, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's order to halt removal operations sending accused illegal immigrants to his nation's brutal correctional facilities.

Attacks on Federal Judge

Bukele's demand for removal was also issued amid social media attacks on the state's justice Karin Immergut by White House aide Miller, former AG Pam Bondi, Musk, and Trump himself in a latest media briefing.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying the national guard, initially in Oregon then in California. Trump has been pushing to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the leader has described as “war-ravaged” based on limited, non-violent protests outside the urban federal building.

Record of Targeting Judges

Miller, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the administration's political agenda. Prior to resuming office this year, the president urged his followers against judges presiding over his civil and criminal trials, who were then inundated with threats and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, police departments, and judges themselves have pointed to a heightened climate of risks and intimidation in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

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

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from Princeton's Bridging Divides Initiative shows that there have been at least 59 instances of intimidation, targeting, surveillance, or violence directed against judges on the state and municipal levels in the current year.

Analyst Analysis on Threat Sources

Experts state that the intimidation are a result of the language coming from top government officials.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from White House allies and supporters coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in demands for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have certainly fueled digital abuse at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the judiciary is one more step in Trump’s march towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been well-trodden in recent years in multiple nations, including by Bukele.

In 2021, immediately after starting a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to dismiss the nation's top prosecutor and several 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 mirrored Viktor Orbán’s remodeling of Hungary’s court system in 2018; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and efforts at comparable actions in Israel and Poland.

Weakening Court Autonomy

Analysts say that the threats and rhetorical attacks in the US can be viewed as attempts to weaken court autonomy in a structure that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges Trump disapproves of.

Leonard, an associate professor at the university who has studied democratic decline in free nations, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

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

Pointing to examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of nearly limitless presidential authority, she added: “They openly criticize the judiciary by stating over and over that it is not a co-equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to redefine the discussion by emphasizing their claim that the executive has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

Leonard said: “Judges' only protection is public trust in the authority of their ability to make those rulings. Individual threats on top of eroding trust in courts may make judges hesitate about decisions that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Scheppele, academic of sociology and global studies at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and Putin, and has warned about escalating threats to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the judge’s home in several years ago by a assailant targeting the judge.

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

“Federal judges are guarded by the Secret Service and the federal police. And those are both dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the Department of Justice. And the former AG has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

Regarding the government's objectives, the expert said that “removing a federal judge is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently