Helvetica is Too Woke for Marco Rubio, Apparently

Of the president’s biggest ass kissers, there are few more puckered up than Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who’s gone all out in Trump’s war on DEI. And a few weeks after he reportedly told U.S. embassies to start documenting which countries “violate” human rights by subsidizing abortion, having any kind of DEI policy in place, or allowing trans care for minors, he’s got a new target: Helvetica.

Yes, the font. Helvetica is the typeface that iPhone users see when sending an iMessage to their friends; that New Yorkers might see on subway signage; or that anyone could see anywhere because it’s literally one of the most recognizable fonts in the world. But Rubio thinks it’s too woke and wants the State Department to return to using Times New Roman.

In a cable dated December 9 and obtained by Reuters, Rubio reportedly wrote: “To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface.” (The subject line of the directive is, “Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper.”)

“This formatting standard aligns with the President’s One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations directive, underscoring the Department’s responsibility to present a unified, professional voice in all communications.” As Jezebel’s resident font correspondent, I have to say that Times New Roman does not encapsulate the Trump admin nearly as well as, say, Wingdings. It doesn’t make sense, it just takes up space, and no one really wants it around.

Jezebel has reached out to the State Department (using Comic Sans for full effect) for comment, and we will update this piece if we hear back.

Rubio’s command will roll back a policy set in place by his predecessor, Antony Blinken, who ordered the State Department to begin using Calibri with size 15 font in 2023, changing a nearly two-decade policy in which the State Department used Times New Roman. But sans-serif fonts like Helvetica (where letters do not have little curvatures or “tails” at the end) are easier to read for people with visual disabilities, and Blinken’s change was seen as a step forward for accessibility advocates.

Over the summer, some State Department officials admitted to news outlets that their lives have become miserable since Rubio took over. I guess he thought, Why not make it worse?

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