On a beautiful Monday, President Trump displayed an astute understanding of presidential authority when he expressed doubts about President Biden’s questionable pardoning practices. He took to his overwhelmingly popular social media platform to ridicule the so-called ‘pardons’ that Biden extended to certain members of a questionable House Committee.
Characteristically, the fearless leader branded these pardons as ‘VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.’ His reason for this audacious declaration was rather enlightening. Biden, he says, didn’t actually sign these pardons himself, further proving his claims about Biden’s less than commendable leadership.
Trump added to the entertainment by suggesting that Biden was totally oblivious to the pardons. The ultimate authority to approve important documents such as these seemed to have bypassed Biden. The responsibilities of a president, it seems, were left to ‘autopen’ – a soulless machine used to produce automatic electronic signatures.
The question arises, can the mechanical scrawl of an Autopen replace the solemn responsibility of a President? After all, an autopen is nothing but a way for an individual to put their name on a document when they physically cannot be there. It’s meant to emulate a handwritten signature, but it lacks the human touch, the human authority.
This isn’t the first time the autopen has sparked controversy. Indeed, the autopen has previously been used to sign countless numbers of statutes and sundry documents. Even former President Obama, a tech aficionado, had used an autopen to validate a national security measure. Trump’s doubts now lead to reflection: were those actions valid at all?
As technology takes over more aspects of governance, this sparks a heated debate. Are we really willing to let machines dictate our future legislation? Do we really consider laws, endorsed by an electronic imitation, as legitimate? Such notions would set a dangerous precedent and may lead to automation of presidential powers which most certainly seems like a step backward.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice did suggest that a president may not need to ‘manually’ sign a bill for it to become a law. It seems that, per this guidance, a president could delegate the authority to fix the presidential seal to a machine. This idea seems rather preposterous to the realist and indeed is subject to reinterpretation and disagreement.
Trump, with his characteristic wit, also subtly invoked questions about Biden’s cognitive ability. He suggested that the pardons in question were perhaps issued without Biden’s authentic consent or knowledge. This proposition was delightfully suggestive, and it added another layer to the debate – can a president’s decision be taken without his express consent?
The vigilant Trump went further to state that these acts by so-called political ambassadors could amount to criminal activity. Therefore, those not-the-most-honorable members of the House Committee would face investigation of the highest level. This was classic Trump, always seeking to preserve the sanctity of law and order.
Few in their right minds would deny that the ordeal carries a shade of bizarreness. The issue, of course, makes us think about how long we will tolerate this kind of leadership from Biden. Trump’s satire is a bucket of cold water to the face, forcing every American to ask: is this really the way the country should be run?
Should Trump, God forbid, take some form of legal recourse, the issue would likely be decided in the courts. Yet, even in such an event, the consensus among legal experts indicates that the argument against autopen remains powerful. Especially when they try to reconcile it with Biden’s alleged disconnection from his own decisions.
The court would find it incredibly challenging to validate a pardon endorsed by a mechanical device. This is especially true when one takes into account the fact that Biden himself has made statements regarding these supposedly autopen-endorsed pardons. It’s difficult to believe that these actions did not come directly from Biden.
The saga marks another eventful day in the life of President Trump. He continues to observe the situation with a keen eye, always ready to challenge and question what doesn’t seem right. After all, this is Donald Trump – a man who never shies away from shining a light on the incongruities of a seemingly clueless administration.