What did Donald Trump do today?

He promised to cut off his own nose to spite his face.

In a social media post this afternoon, Trump said he'd refuse to sign any legislation until his preferred version of the so-called "SAVE Act" passed. That includes, presumably, the supplemental defense authorization bill that Trump absolutely requires to pay for his billion-dollar-a-day war on Iran.

In reality, this is not much of a threat—even to him. Under the Constitution, bills that are not signed by the president within 10 days while Congress is in session automatically become law. Trump's refusal to sign bills passed by a Republican-controlled Congress would be purely symbolic, and that Congress could stay in session as long as it needed to. For Trump's threat to make any sense, he'd have to promise to veto bills he supports, which would just be a different kind of absurd.

Whether or not Trump realized this when he tweeted it out is another matter. Trump often claims that the Constitution gives him unlimited dictatorial power to do literally anything he wants. It's easy to believe he thinks that includes shutting down Congress's ability to legislate in a fit of temper—never mind reality. 

The "GOLD STANDARD" version of the act that Trump was ranting about would almost certainly disenfranchise tens of millions of legitimate voters, if it were allowed by courts to go into effect—which it almost certainly wouldn't. It would require voters to show not only photo ID, but "documentary proof of citizenship," which in most cases would mean either a passport or a birth certificate matching their current legal name.

That means that, for example, a married woman who took her husband's name and didn't have a passport would not only have to be able to present her original birth certificate, but also court paperwork for her name change. Many people simply don't have those documents handy, or have lost them over the years, and getting replacements can take months. Trump's "GOLD STANDARD" would absolutely bar any such person from voting.  

It would also ban mail-in ballots entirely, a system that nine states use as the main method of voting, and which all fifty states use to some extent. For example, it would completely disenfranchise voters in nursing homes or hospitals, or who were away from home during the early voting period in their local district. 

That provision would also disenfranchise Trump, who usually votes by mail, and who doesn't like being asked why he should get to but not other people. (But then, Trump could always take a $3.4 million dollar Tuesday plane trip at taxpayer expense to vote in his Florida district if he felt that strongly about it.)

Why does this matter?

• Americans will exercise their right to vote in free and fair elections in 2026 under a constitutional set of laws whether Donald Trump likes it or not. 

• Strong leaders don't issue empty threats, and smart leaders know that empty threats make you look weak.

• Fifth-graders have to read and pass tests on the Constitution, so it shouldn't be impossible for a second-term president to take a look.