Handwriting Experts Analyze Donald Trump's Signature

Buzz Feed

12-05-2025

Hot Topic
🔥 Full coverage and conversation on Politics
You're likely seeing lots of Donald Trump's signature lately, thanks to his many recent executive orders. His autograph is pretty hard to miss — it's angular, harsh and pretty gigantic. Handwriting analysts, also known as graphologists, say they can glean personality insights from his writing.
But, much like other professions that claim to decipher one's personality through things that aren't direct personality analysis, it's hotly debated whether handwriting analysis is actually a real way to understand a person.
Graphology is sometimes considered to be a pseudoscience, meaning something that claims to be based in fact but isn't actually. But the graphologists who spoke to HuffPost disagree with that characterization of the field and say the way a person's letters slant or curve and the direction of their pen strokes can reveal a lot about anyone, including Trump.
According to Valerie Weil, a graphologist and handwriting analysis teacher based in Georgia, graphology was lumped in with occult sciences in the Dewey Decimal System, which damaged its credibility. 'That was wrong. That was absolutely wrong because it is not occult sciences, it's behavioral sciences, which is more psychology,' Weil added.
'And it was in 1980 that ... the Library of Congress changed that and moved us out of the occult sciences and put us into three different fields,' Weil said. 'We're in forensics, we are in human resource personnel selection and we're in diagnostic psychologies. So we are in three different fields. We're no longer listed in the occult.'
And while there are studies that find flaws in graphology, there are also studies that support its methods, said Sheila Lowe, a forensic handwriting examiner and author in California.
Our current president even once claimed that he himself is a handwriting analyst in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). We asked graphologists to take a look at Trump's handwriting and his signature and share what his writing indicates in terms of his personality.
I am a handwriting analyst. Jack Lew's handwriting shows, while strange, that he is very secretive—not necessarily a bad thing.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2013
@realdonaldtrump/X / Via x.com
It's up to you whether you want to believe that graphology unveils parts of someone's character, but the graphologists we spoke to say our writing, and Trump's writing, speaks volumes. Here's what they told us.
Overall, a signature shows how you want to be viewed by others — and in Trump's case, that means a few very specific things.
Signatures represent how you hope to be seen by others, said Weil, and not how you feel about yourself or how you relate to those around you. (That's where analysis of your actual handwriting comes in.)
'There's a lot of practice to signatures, and remember, that's the one thing that you write more consistently throughout your lifetime than anything else. You write your signature over and over and over again,' added Weil.
When it comes to Trump's signature, Weil noted that the letters largely look the same, so it's difficult to make out the individual characters in his signature. 'The ambiguity behind his signature says that you never really get to know the real me. He keeps that more private,' Weil said.
'He wants to be seen as strong and bold and somebody that you don't mess with. That's what I get from that signature,' Lowe noted.
This can be seen in the lack of space between the letters and words in his signature, Lowe said. Its compact nature is conserving and controlling the space, she noted.
'So, this is somebody who has a strong need to feel like he's in control of his environment, which can make him come on strong in protecting that so this is manifested by the way he acts in an authoritarian manner, dominating the environment, just taking over,' Lowe noted.
The size of certain letters is telling, too. 'The largest capital letter is the 'T' and Trump, which says that there's some favoritism on a family name,' Weil said, and added that the 'J' in his middle name is almost hidden.
'But as far as where he puts the prominence, he is very comfortable with being associated with the Trump family. And ... some people will have a larger first name then a smaller surname — those are people that want to be recognized for who they were rather than who the family is,' Weil noted.
There are lots of angles and straight lines in his signature, which also mean a few things.
'Everything in handwriting is symbolic, really, and so we look at whether the lines are curved or the lines are straight, and when there's a lot of straight lines, as in his case, it's a lot of aggression there and possibly anger and things like that,' Lowe said.
By contrast, curved writing tends to signify emotion, Lowe explained. 'So, what we look for, hopefully, is a balance — but there is no balance in that signature,' Lowe said.
The angles in his signature show that he's analytical and intelligent, said Weil, but it also signifies a sharpness and shortness.
'The main thing that I see when I look at his signature is the impatience. It's fast. It's moving. He does not like to look back. He does not like to have to double-check himself. He's very insistent, almost to the point of arrogance. In this way, he likes a competition,' Weil said.
This has to do with the angularity, in addition to the heaviness of the downstrokes, she said. This shows determination while the pressure of the lines shows the depth of his insistence, Weil added.
To go deeper, it's important to look at his handwriting, in addition to his signature.
Lowe equated signatures to the cover of a book — they're outward-facing yet don't tell the full story, which is where handwriting, which can paint a full picture, comes in and Trump's handwriting and signature vary greatly, both experts said.
His handwriting, as seen here in a note to former basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, tends to be pretty boxy, which holds meaning.
'The body of the text is a kind of a squarish form, and square handwriting, especially in this case, are a sign of a deep need for security,' Lowe said. 'And that doesn't necessarily mean financial security, although it may, but it just means that person is always kind of focused internally on building.'
'A person with this kind of need for security, you have to think, 'Why? He's got more money than God. Why does he need security?' Because he's never felt secure emotionally. And so that comes out in other ways,' Lowe added.
The slant to his writing is significant, too.
When looking at Trump's handwriting in particular, Lowe noticed that he tends to write on a diagonal, which is seen in examples like the above note to Abdul-Jabbar and in a message to the Police Officers Association of Michigan.
'Whenever he can, he writes on a diagonal, and it's kind of a rebellious thing, you know? I'm going to do things my own way because other people don't normally do that,' Lowe said.
In addition to writing on a diagonal, his signature tends to be slanted, which signifies that he's outgoing, said Weil.
Experts say the 'communication letters' in his handwriting are obstructed, which is telling.
'The other thing that's important about his writing is that there's usually a little hook shape in many of the ovals, the 'Os,' and that ... in handwriting analysis, that is generally considered a sign of somebody who is less than truthful,' said Lowe.
O's are considered communication letters. 'They should be open and clear, clear communication, but when there's interference in there, stuff that doesn't belong, it interferes with clear communication,' Lowe noted.
His use of a thick, felt pen speaks volumes, too.
Not only do the thick, broad and dark lines give a feeling of power, but you 'can have all the emphasis without a lot of the work,' said Weil. Meaning, you don't need much pressure to create a bold line.
Lowe said folks who often use a thick felt pen 'like all the trappings of the good life.'
'I know he doesn't drink, but in general, fine wine and good food and strong colors and things like that, but without putting a lot of energy into getting them. They just want it to come easily,' Lowe noted.
'I like to say that handwriting reveals a lot of really important information about a person, but it doesn't tell everything,' Lowe said. 'We can't say, 'Oh yeah, I can tell everything about you from your handwriting,' but there are certain things — those social skills, or social style, intellectual style, state of the ego ... but we certainly can't tell all your specific secrets.'
Trump's personality is his and his alone, just like his handwriting and signature. You can choose to read into the meaning behind his writing style or let his direct actions inform your thoughts on his personality. Nonetheless, though, both his bold signature and his bristly personality appear intentional.