Maga Figures Back Bukele's Plea for Trump to Crack Down on American Judiciary

Donald Trump rarely accepts guidance, especially from foreign leaders who often seek to flatter and admire the US president.

But, the Central American nation's strongman president Nayib Bukele has adopted a different strategy by calling on the White House to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also received support from Maga figures, including an social media message by former close Trump ally the billionaire, who has in the past boosted Bukele's calls to impeach US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Court Autonomy

Analysts note that the leader's recent remarks occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the United States, and during a phase where the president's team is employing similar strong-arm methods used by rulers in nations such as Turkey, the European state, India, and Bukele's own the Central American country to weaken government oversight.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of taunts and allegations he has leveled against the US's legal system, such as a spring assertion that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and his mockery of a court's ruling to stop deportation flights sending suspected undocumented individuals to his country's brutal prison system.

Criticism on Federal Judge

The Salvadoran's demand for removal was also made during social media criticism on the state's justice Karin Immergut by presidential advisor Stephen Miller, former AG Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump personally in a latest media briefing.

The judge had ordered injunctions preventing the administration from mobilizing the national guard, initially in the state then in the West Coast state. Trump has been eager to dispatch troops into Portland, which the president has characterized as “battle-scarred” based on small, peaceful demonstrations outside the urban homeland security facility.

Record of Targeting Judges

The advisor, Bondi, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have ruled against presidential directives or in other ways impeded the government's policy goals. Prior to resuming office this year, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then inundated with intimidation and abuse.

Watchdog organizations, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of risks and coercion in the months since he returned to the presidency.

Increasing Threat Statistics

According to information gathered by the US Marshals Service, in the current year through the third quarter, there were over five hundred incidents to nearly four hundred federal judges, giving rise to more than eight hundred inquiries. 2025 has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to exceed the previous year's high of over six hundred threats.

The dangers are not just happening at the national level. Data from the university's research project shows that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, stalking, or violence directed against judges on the local level in the current year.

Expert Insights on Threat Sources

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

In May, 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 coincide with escalating violent posts on social media.” It recorded “a 54% rise in calls for removal and violent threats against judges across digital networks from January to February of this year, the initial period of the president's term.”

Beirich, the founder of GPAHE, said: “The president's warnings against judges have certainly driven online vitriol at judges and calls for ouster. Attacking the courts is one more step in Trump’s advance towards authoritarianism.”

Global Authoritarian Tactics

That march towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term despite legal bans, the president's allies in congress voted to remove the country’s top prosecutor and several judges on the constitutional court. The judges, who had angered him by rejecting coronavirus measures, were replaced by new appointees hand picked by the leader.

The move mirrored Viktor Orbán’s overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; the Turkish president's court cleanups recently; and attempts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Weakening Judicial Independence

Experts say that the threats and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as efforts to undermine judicial independence in a system that offers no easy way for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in free nations, said the White House had taken cues from the models set by authoritarians abroad.

“The government is looking around at these successes and setbacks. They know they’re not going to be able to enact any legislation that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Pointing to instances such as the advisor's persistent assertions of nearly limitless executive power, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating over and over that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They persist in redefine the debate by repeating their argument that the president has more power than this judicial branch, which is not how separation powers work.”

The professor said: “Judges' only protection is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their capacity to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of weakening trust in courts may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for democracy.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and global studies at Princeton University, has documented the use of “autocratic legalism” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has spoken out about rising dangers to judges in the US.

She highlighted a series of termed “harassment deliveries” recently, in which judges have received unsolicited food orders with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the child of Judge Esther Salas, who was murdered at the residence in several years ago by a assailant aiming at the judge.

“Everyone understands what it means. ‘Your address is known. You are a target,’” the professor said.

“US justices are protected by the presidential protection and the federal police. And those are both dedicated police units that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And Pam Bondi has been leading the criticism on justices.”

Government Goals

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