Lord of the Signatures: Trump to Sign 200 Executive Orders

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Published: 23 Jan, 2017
Updated: 21 Nov, 2022
1 min read

President Donald Trump is signing executive orders left and right. Reuters reported that his advisers vetted more than 200 orders, and Fox News judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano also said Trump will sign as many as 200 orders Monday.

This may prove to be a trying ceremony, as Trump's signature takes reportedly 3-6 times longer than Obama's did. The 11 letters of his name take him 6-7 seconds and over 30 strokes to complete. Left-handed Barack Obama, and other previous presidents, took 1-2 seconds to scribble their John Hancock's.

As far as signatures go, Trump's has inspired references to Lord of the Rings:

https://twitter.com/michaelgracejr/status/822682561377878016

As well as a way to determine an earthquake's magnitude:

https://twitter.com/SeriousHardly/status/796113719721766912

And a method for detecting the truth among the #fakenews:

https://twitter.com/RyanAbe/status/822516462715895808

Slate went as far as to call his signature a "cry for help":

IVP Donate

https://twitter.com/Slate/status/823022794564923392

During the primary, Politico had a handwriting specialist analyze candidates' signatures. Their analyst was Michelle Dresbold, a graduate of the U.S. Secret Service's Advanced Document Examination program.

She found that Trump's angles-only signature depicts an angry, determined, fearful, and competitive scribe. Dresbold wrote that a script devoid of curves points to a lack of empathy, and a craving for power, prestige, and admiration.

Whether Trump's signature depicts his inner nature, or if he'll truly sign 200 executive orders Monday, there's a big week ahead. We'll see what President Trump gets up to in his first full week as #POTUS.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/823495059010109440

Photo Credit: Eric El-Amin / shutterstock.com

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