Photo Credit Wired.com

The evidence was there early in his administration. Aides witnessed the President tear a document in half, then tear those halves into quarters. He ripped apart memos, white papers, handwritten notes, news clippings, drafts of his tweets. Documents both classified and unclassified. These well-meaning aides didn't want to embarrass the President publicly and expose his uncontrollable habit, so they picked the pieces off the floor and out of trash baskets and taped them back together. 

A man who led billion-dollar enterprises in highly regulated industries like gambling certainly understood records retention laws. During the transition from the Obama Administration, when he was brought up to speed on covert intelligence operations and taught how to use the oval office telephone, surely someone explained the Presidential Records Act. It’s unthinkable a man who could ascend to the presidency didn’t understand the papers he tore into little pieces weren’t his but owned by the public. That these records must be preserved then automatically transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration when the President leaves office. As those who witnessed the destruction and then tried to repair it said, the President just…could…not…help…himself. 

People who leave the lights on when they exit a room, don’t put the toilet seat down, return empty cereal boxes to the cupboard, or drop dirty socks on the floor certainly understand. And now, all the habitual paper tearer uppers can come out of their self-imposed exile, raise their weapons of mass destruction skyward, and know everyone understands their struggle. 

Imagine the pain of the mother who can’t hold her young child’s gold starred test papers in her hands because her habit forces her to rip them in half, her husband holding them up to her from across the room to keep them safe. The man who always wanted to be a bank teller but could never achieve his dreams because he shredded all the money handed to him. Or the artist whose work the public could never appreciate because they tore the sketches into pieces of confetti on completion. People who have suffered in silence for years can now hold their heads high and say, "See, even Presidents can't help but tear things up!"

In 2018, two men who were fired from their jobs as record management analysts for the federal government talked to the press. They told reporters their jobs were to tape presidential papers back together. Both were frustrated because they thought they should be doing something "more important." Imagine thinking there is something more important than being paid $60,000 a year to scotch tape presidential papers together. The baseless bitterness toward Trump knows no end. 

If Trump’s habit wasn’t widely recognized then, it certainly is now. Recently fifteen boxes of documents were discovered in Trump’s house at Mar-A-Largo. The press, public, and government officials are up in arms that these classified and unclassified documents, many of them taped together, were removed from the White House in clear violation of the Presidential Records Act. The man was so embarrassed by his habit he risked criminal prosecution to hide it. 

Instead of shaming and locking him up, this is an opportunity to finally recognize the extent of this habit and do something about it. Help the people who have ripped and torn for years behind closed doors break free. 

Bring Donald Trump back into the folds of the federal government. Give him the resources to help people return to living meaningful, torn paper free lives. Lead them to recovery so they can hold stock certificates, property titles, their children's crayon drawings, and yes, presidential documents without fear of tearing them to pieces.

Donald Trump may have torn the pages of history, but we can tape them up. And while we do, let’s do what we can to repair the lives of habitual paper tearers. Our founding fathers would want this. Especially the guy who signed the Declaration of Independence but never got to hold the final copy because he kept tearing up earlier drafts.