More hypocrisy from the chief hypocrite. Here’s where we started:

…the autopen is hardly a novel device for the political sphere, with the Shapell Manuscript Foundation noting that one of the devices was bought by Thomas Jefferson soon after it was patented in 1803. Throughout U.S. history, presidents have relied on autopens…

Mr. Trump has also used an autopen, telling reporters on Air Force One in March that he’d used the device “only for very unimportant papers.”

[…] President George W. Bush asked the Justice Department in 2005 if it was constitutional to use an autopen to sign a bill, with the department concluding that “the president need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law.

And here is where we are now.

United States President Donald Trump has said that he will throw out all executive orders issued under predecessor Joe Biden that he believes were signed using an autopen, pushing a dubious claim to delegitimise Democratic policies

The administration simultaneously argues that AI replacing human judgment and labor is progress that shouldn’t be regulated, that accumulating wealth through speculative digital assets requires no productive human contribution, yet the mechanical signature replication used by presidents since Jefferson suddenly and alone represents the single most unacceptable absence of human involvement.

The pattern is familiar to those who study fascism: principles are tools of convenience, applied when useful against opponents and discarded when inconvenient for allies.

The autopen claim is NOT about autopens. It’s about manufacturing pretexts to undo policies without engaging in any substance. It’s abuse of procedural framing for a shameless veneer of legitimacy. It’s fraud, like bullshit painted gold to sell it as an investment.

What’s particularly cynical is how his own supporters are his marks for fraud, treating them as if they can’t remember his own autopen use or look up the 2005 OLC opinion. The relationship isn’t “leader and believers” but “con artist and targets.”

The confidence of this dictator is in the permanently improvisational dictation, as he normalizes constant contradictions. Governance becomes purely a function of who holds power now, which is, of course, precisely the point.

The inconsistency signals that legitimacy flows from political loyalty, not any consistent principle or inherent rights. It’s a demonstration meant to signal the end of democracy. The message isn’t “autopens are wrong.” The message is “Trump alone decides what rules apply and to whom.”