Marco Rubio Orders State Dept to Cease Utilizing Calibri Font in Anti-DEI Push

Secretary of State Marco Rubio despatched a memo on Tuesday ordering everybody on the U.S. State Division to make use of Occasions New Roman for all official authorities paperwork, in keeping with the New York Occasions. What’s behind Rubio’s sudden obsession with fonts? The Secretary thinks the present typeface getting used, Calibri, is just too woke.

Rubio’s memo was titled “Return to Custom: Occasions New Roman 14-Level Font Required for All Division Paper,” in keeping with the Times and Reuters, which obtained a replica of the memo.

“To revive decorum and professionalism to the Division’s written work merchandise and abolish yet one more wasteful DEIA program, the Division is returning to Occasions New Roman as its customary typeface,” the cable mentioned.

DEIA stands for Variety, Fairness, Inclusion, and Accessibility. And it’s that final half about accessibility that was necessary when the State Division first switched to the typeface Calibri in January 2023 underneath President Joe Biden. Sans-serif fonts like Calibri are simpler for individuals with some visible disabilities to learn. Display screen readers that use optical character recognition (OCR) and text-to-speech are additionally in a position to better course of sans-serif fonts.

Calibri was Microsoft Workplace’s default font till the summer season of 2023, when Microsoft launched Aptos. Whereas the corporate made the change solely six months after the State Division had determined to make Calibri its generally used typeface, Aptos can be a sans-serif font and extra accessible to these with visible disabilities.

The neighborhood over at r/typography had loads of jokes in regards to the new order, together with “There’s a brand new serif on the town…” and “tariff the serif.” One other commenter responded, “kerny joke.”

Rubio and different members of the Trump administration have been tasked with purging something thought of “DEI” inside authorities. That effort is clearly a part of President Donald Trump’s broader mission of creating the U.S. extra white and preferencing males in addition to able-bodied individuals over anybody else.

“This formatting customary aligns with the President’s One Voice for America’s Overseas Relations directive, underscoring the Division’s duty to current a unified, skilled voice in all communications,” the memo mentioned.

Typefaces in authorities may look like a distraction, dismissed as a kind of “tradition warfare” points. However ordering a return to the usage of Occasions New Roman is all a part of the bigger MAGA venture. The aim is to alienate and expel any out-groups who could also be hostile to a neo-fascist agenda.

Trump refused to acknowledge World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, the primary time since 1988. The president has dropped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a free admission day on the nationwide parks, as an alternative changing it along with his birthday in June. Piece by piece, Trump seeks to remake the U.S. right into a extra authoritarian and fewer inclusive place. And the change away from Calibri may look like small potatoes, nevertheless it’s a transparent fuck-you to anybody who hasn’t jumped aboard the MAGA prepare.