Stop scrollingābecause this one is the kind of political move that makes you blink twice and ask: did the White House really just try to erase four years of American government with one social media post?

Over the past week, President Donald Trump has detonated a new firestorm by declaring that any official Biden-era document signed using an autopen is āterminatedā and āof no further force or effect.ā He claims this covers roughly 92% of Bidenās signed actionsāexecutive orders, proclamations, memos, contracts, and even pardons. The message wasnāt subtle. It was a wrecking ball. Sky News+4Reuters+4The Guardian+4
To everyday people, āautopenā might sound like a boring technical footnote. But Trump is trying to turn that footnote into a constitutional erase button. An autopen is a mechanical device that reproduces a signatureāused for decades by presidents from both parties when the volume of paperwork is massive. Itās not exotic, not secret, and not new. Legal opinions from the Justice Department and constitutional scholars stress that what matters is presidential intent and authorization, not whether the ink was laid down by hand or machine. factually.co+2Reuters+2
So why is Trump going nuclear over it now?
Because this isnāt really about a pen. Itās about powerāand about rewriting the last chapter of American politics like it never happened.
Trumpās Truth Social blast didnāt just say āI disagree with Bidenās policies.ā Thatās normal politics. What heās doing is something far more radical: declaring Bidenās presidency functionally illegitimate by suggesting aides āillegallyā used the autopen while Biden supposedly wasnāt aware. He even floated the threat that if Biden claims he did approve those signatures, he should face perjury charges. Reuters+3ģ”°ģ ģ¼ė³“+3The Independent+3
Letās be clear about what that implies: a sitting president publicly flirting with criminal prosecution of a former president over a routine signing tool. Legal experts across the spectrum say a president cannot revoke a predecessorās pardons or void executive actions just by waving at the signature method. Courts would need real proof that Biden didnāt authorize the actionsāand so far, Trump hasnāt presented any. Reuters+2The Guardian+2

Still, the political shockwave is real. Trumpās move comes after Biden issued several high-profile pardons near the end of his term, including for family members and political figuresādecisions that are now being dragged into Trumpās autopen crusade. thetimes.com+2Reuters+2
Hereās the part that has allies, businesses, and ordinary Americans sweating: if the U.S. president can announce that most of the last administrationās work ādoesnāt count,ā what happens to stability?
Executive orders arenāt just symbolic. They touch climate rules, healthcare directions, disaster responses, infrastructure priorities, agency operationsāthings that people and markets plan around. Trump is essentially telling the country, āIf I say itās invalid, itās invalid.ā That kind of governing-by-declaration turns law into sand. Sky News+3thetimes.com+3Reuters+3
And the deeper fear is the precedent. If this theory standsāeven politically, even rhetoricallyāthen every new president can claim the last four years were void by attacking procedure instead of debating policy. Democracy becomes a reset button every election. No continuity, no trust, no guardrails. Just vengeance on loop.

Thatās why this controversy isnāt dying down. Itās not about whether Trump dislikes Bidenās legacy. Itās about whether any legacy can survive when the next president decides the past was āillegalā simply because he says so.
Right now, the legal consensus is blunt: Trumpās declaration is wildly unlikely to hold up in court. But the political damageāconfusion, instability, and the normalization of retroactive revengeāmay be the real point.
Because even if the autopen argument collapses, the message has already been sent:
āNothing you voted for is safe if I donāt like it.ā
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