There’s a Reason Why President Donald Trump Favors a Sharpie Over a Pen for Signatures

When President Donald Trump was inaugurated and took office for his second term, he got to work right away. But when he began signing executive orders in the Oval Office with photographers and video cameras present, the resulting footage had people asking about something that has nothing to do with Trump's plans for America. They wondered what was up with the Sharpie he used.

Many were left wondering and even asking on social media about why Trump signs with a Sharpie. From a practical standpoint, you have to imagine that the thick marker ink would bleed through any documents or orders he would sign. From a point of view where you consider how smooth the Sharpie probably glides on that paper, it makes a little more sense. But Trump has spoken about this.

In the 2018 HBO docuseries Axios, Trump shared details about why he uses a Sharpie and why he prefers not to use more traditional pens to sign important documents. And no, it's not because he can use marker ink to sign his name extra large. OK, well maybe that's part of it, but that's not exactly what he shared on the docuseries.

"I was signing documents with a very expensive pen, and it didn't write well," Trump explained during an episode of the docuseries. "It was a horrible pen, and it was extremely expensive. And then I started using just a Sharpie, and I said to myself, 'Well wait a minute, this writes much better and this costs almost nothing.'"

When you look at the impact of writing with a fountain pen and a thick Sharpie, you can see the difference between them.

And his love for Sharpies never really went away. He even threw his specially made Sharpies into the audience on his inauguration day. Because yes, apparently Trump also had Sharpie create "rich" looking all-black Sharpie markers just for him. He shared as much in Axios, and since then, his special Sharpies have remained important to him.

Although people took note of Trump's use of Sharpie markers during his first term as president, they took a newfound interest in his use of them at the start of his second term. This is mainly because Trump made waves and countless headlines for the numerous executive orders he signed the first week he was in office for his second term.

Trump's first executive orders included one that banned federal funding for gender-affirming healthcare for children under the age of 19 and an order to dismantle the government diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that were in place in the United States prior to him being sworn in.

Because of the hot button issues at the forefront of many of Trump's executive orders, there was more focus than ever placed on footage of him signing those documents in the Oval office.