In an interview with CNN, Puerto Rico’s Democratic Gov. Ricardo Rossello referred to President Trump, stating “If the bully gets close, I’ll punch the bully in the mouth.” He added that Trump shouldn’t ignore his “courage.”
I’m pretty confident that Rossello should abandon this theory of action.
First, there’s that not-so-small U.S. Secret Service issue. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rossello now gets a visit from the Secret Service’s Miami field office, which is responsible for Puerto Rico. The service’s standing protocol is to investigate all threats to the president. Because were Rossello to actually punch Trump, the governor would be the physical loser. After all, the Secret Service would aggressively put him on the ground, as one photographer found out during a 2016 campaign event. The Secret Service trains agents to use dominant force in face of physical attacks. This is an agency that takes its protective mission exceptionally seriously.
But that would be just the start of Rossello’s troubles. Enter federal law. Specifically, the Title 18 federal offense of assaulting the president. It comes with a rather hefty punishment of up to ten years in prison. Now, considering that the courts take a very dim view of assaults on federal officers, and that Trump is the chief executive officer of the United States, Rossello’s punch would earn him a not-so-short stay in federal prison. This would almost certainly be the case even if Trump was uninjured by the assault.
Finally, there’s the issue of Trump himself. Because Trump has shown an apparent willingness to personally fight potential assailants. Watch at the bottom of this article, for example, what happened when a protester attempted to rush Trump’s stage at a 2016 campaign event. As the Secret Service moved to cover Trump, Trump spun towards the protester ready to hit him. Seeing as Trump is 6’3 tall and weighs 243 pounds, his punch might not feel great.
So yes, Rossello should reconsider whether his threat is actually one of “courage” or just stupidity.
