Trump's Signature Makes Me Cringe
Let's see what graphology can tell us about it
This is not about politics. This is about someone’s signature and how it can help us understand who they are with the help of graphology.
As a reminder, Graphology, or handwriting analysis, is the study of handwriting to analyze and understand the writer’s personality.
Donald Trump’s signature is both impressive and uncommon.
As a graphologist, I can’t resist analyzing it.
A signature tells us about the social self, what others see, and ambitions, whereas handwriting reveals who we are deep inside.
Like a logo, our signature shows the world who we want to be.
But the signature and handwriting must match, meaning they should not look too different. If they are very different, as seems to be the case with Donald Trump, this shows a discrepancy between who we are and how we present ourselves to others.
Nevertheless, it is not uncommon for a signature to differ from the handwriting. It may be smaller or larger than the handwriting, or present other differences (shape of letters, stroke, direction…). This signals a gap between the inner self and what is shown on the social stage. More often than not, it is just a question of trying to look a little better than what we are.
In Trump’s case, the difference between his spiky signature and his handwriting (at least the one easily found online) is striking.
With a very inconsistent and highly valued signature, overcompensation is usually involved.
Let’s look more deeply at Donald Trump’s signature and see what it can tell us.
One of its striking and excessive features is its angularity, the sharp spikes that punctuate it.
This shows determination, but also inner discomfort, a lack of flexibility, and arrogant and aggressive behavior. It also means the necessity to control, conceal, or even suppress feelings and emotions.
Doesn’t his signature look like a row of sharp teeth ready to bite to impress anyone who would come too close?
This signature, made of stiff angles, is crying out “Never show you’re weak, never admit you could hesitate or be scared, don’t trust anyone, never lower your shield, enemies are everywhere and could take advantage of any weak spot”.
There is a streak of paranoïa in this signature.
It is only made of straight lines, sticks, and angles, without a single curve, nothing soft, and no hesitation.
Every letter is connected to the next one, he never pauses to think or reconsider but follows his idea or the goal he is pursuing without flinching.
There’s a stubbornness in the way every letter is closely attached to the next one, which is also a way of not letting anyone or any other way of thinking in. Listening is not even an option.
And of course, one cannot help noticing the dimension. How big and tall it is!
This signature wants to be seen and noticed from far away, it wants to impose and impress, look mighty, and stand at the center of everything.
Maybe the worst for him would be to be ignored, to feel worthless and despised as he did when he was a child with both his parents emotionally unavailable. That is what Mary Trump, Donald’s niece, wrote in her interesting book about her family «Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man» where she explains that his mother was often sick and absent, and deems his father a sociopath.
This is probably what rendered Donald Trump unable to admit any weakness (or what he sees as such) in himself or others, be it illness or anything else, which was considered unacceptable when he was growing up.
Instead of compassion, there is blindness towards suffering or needing help; not admitting it for oneself makes it impossible to tolerate in others.
Usually showing too much of something is a sign of the opposite. Wanting this much to impress, to force yourself upon others means a lot of insecurity deep inside.
Let’s not forget the final stroke of the signature that goes backwards and crosses the name. This may indicate self-destructive behavior or at least dissatisfaction with oneself.
Added to the other leftward gestures it also shows an instinct and a will to appropriate. Keeping what he has is a priority. Sharing wouldn’t even come to mind.
To conclude, this is not the signature of a well-balanced man. This is not the signature of someone who can give up or admit he is wrong or who will apologize for what he did. Instead, he will cling to this barricade he built for himself, just as he clung to this wall he promised to build at the Mexican border.
And no wonder he wanted to build a wall, his signature looks exactly like a wall, a well-guarded, threatening fortified wall with some barbed-wire fence on top. He may think he’s perfectly protected behind it, but he’s only protected from seeing the outside world and reality as it is.
An interesting note in Mary Trump‘s book is when she explains that her grandfather (Donald’s father) asked her to modify her signature because it was illegible and he didn’t like that.
Donald Trump’s current signature is also illegible.
This one, from 1978, is more legible, at least the first part is. It would be interesting to know when it became completely illegible.
Let me know what you think. Have you ever paid attention to Trump’s signature? What did you think of it? I’d like to know.
Trump's signature probably became illegible around the 2000s - his second presidential bid.
Or when he was compering THE APPRENTICE.
Donald's handwriting looks a lot like Walt Disney - at least the logo
[I have not seen extended samples of the animation entrepreneur's handwriting].