Secretary Rubio orders diplomats to return to using Times New Roman, ousting Biden's 'wasteful' 'Woke' Calibri

essentialsaltes · Wednesday at 8:19 AM

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken’s decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.

The department under Blinken in early January 2023 had switched to Calibri, a modern sans-serif font, saying this was a more accessible font for people with disabilities because it did not have the decorative angular features and was the default in Microsoft products.

“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 cable said.

durangodawood · Wednesday at 9:14 AM

durangodawood · Wednesday at 9:54 AM

Rubio serious multitasking, Natl Security Advisor. Sec of State. Graphic Designer.

Say it aint so · Wednesday at 10:43 AM

This has got to be straight Onion, no?

MarcusGregor · Wednesday at 12:20 PM

Say it aint so said:
This has got to be straight Onion, no?

Stories like this are why the Onion is struggling. Reality is so much more absurd than anything their writers could make up and still be at least a little humorous.

Vambram · Wednesday at 12:53 PM

Times New Roman is just about universally recognized as a more professional font by colleges and businesses.

essentialsaltes · Wednesday at 12:57 PM

Shoutout to the Grauniad for offering a useful detail along with the snark.

Is this the first time humble Calibri has made the news? No, it’s long played a role in solving crime and uncovering fraud.

How? Because of the specific year it was first offered – documents have been shown to be forgeries because they were printed in Calibri but dated before Calibri was available.

Bradskii · Wednesday at 2:13 PM

Vambram said:
Times New Roman is just about universally recognized as a more professional font by colleges and businesses.

MarcusGregor · Wednesday at 2:22 PM

Vambram said:
Times New Roman is just about universally recognized as a more professional font by colleges and businesses.

Too bad Little Marco didn't just say that. He said Calibri was "woke", "DEI" and somehow using it caused "waste." I mean, that's what's being ridiculed here. His biased political characterization... of a font.

PloverWing · Wednesday at 3:40 PM

MarcusGregor said:
Too bad [Secretary Rubio] didn't just say that. He said Calibri was "woke", "DEI" and somehow using it caused "waste." I mean, that's what's being ridiculed here. His biased political characterization... of a font.

I like the look of Times New Roman, and it's what I use for most of my documents at work. But it's goofy to label a font as being "woke", and it's...odd...to reject a font on the grounds that it's too readable.

seeking.IAM · Wednesday at 4:24 PM

Fonts are woke? Who knew! Make fonts great again, because 'Murica!"

We don't have universal health care, but we got .gov paying attention to the whole font crisis on our behalf.

FAITH-IN-HIM · 2025-12-11T09:33:07-0600

essentialsaltes said:
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken’s decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters.

The department under Blinken in early January 2023 had switched to Calibri, a modern sans-serif font, saying this was a more accessible font for people with disabilities because it did not have the decorative angular features and was the default in Microsoft products.

“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 cable said.

I've worked at several organizations where the communications department decided on the font, which I found unnecessary.

There is nothing related to DEIA in Calibri or Times New Roman. I believe both are very good fonts. However, Times New Roman has been around longer than Calibri, so it is easily available.

What I find astonishing is that my tax dollars are being used exceptionally well with much more thoughtfulness: the Secretary of State, under both administrations, appears more concerned about the choice of font than addressing the significant chaos occurring in the world.

Aryeh Jay · 2025-12-11T12:47:49-0600

Once upon a time, another country changed their official script due to similar reasons. It's almost like they aren't even trying to hide it.

essentialsaltes · 2025-12-11T15:58:25-0600

Aryeh Jay · 2025-12-11T16:08:48-0600

Off topic, I was able to livestream an entire episode of Better call Saul in the time it took to load this page. I suppose I should be watching Narcos.

MarcusGregor · 2025-12-12T08:56:11-0600

Aryeh Jay said:
Off topic, I was able to livestream an entire episode of Better call Saul in the time it took to load this page. I suppose I should be watching Narcos.

Cloudflare is still experiencing issues from last week.

durangodawood · 2025-12-12T09:36:37-0600

essentialsaltes said:
View attachment 374368

From now on its MARCO RVBIO and DONALD TRVMP

wing2000 · 2025-12-12T09:45:47-0600

FAITH-IN-HIM said:
I've worked at several organizations where the communications department decided on the font, which I found unnecessary.

There is nothing related to DEIA in Calibri or Times New Roman. I believe both are very good fonts. However, Times New Roman has been around longer than Calibri, so it is easily available.

What I find astonishing is that my tax dollars are being used exceptionally well with much more thoughtfulness: the Secretary of State, under both administrations, appears more concerned about the choice of font than addressing the significant chaos occurring in the world.

In my corporate experience, large organizations will set presentation standards including font type, especially for external communications with customers.

FAITH-IN-HIM · 2025-12-12T09:52:16-0600

wing2000 said:
In my corporate experience, large organizations will set presentation standards including font type, especially for external communications with customers.

now a days corporation started enforcing Zoom or Team background image for their employees.

durangodawood · 2025-12-12T09:53:21-0600

FAITH-IN-HIM said:
I've worked at several organizations where the communications department decided on the font, which I found unnecessary.

There is nothing related to DEIA in Calibri or Times New Roman. I believe both are very good fonts. However, Times New Roman has been around longer than Calibri, so it is easily available.

What I find astonishing is that my tax dollars are being used exceptionally well with much more thoughtfulness: the Secretary of State, under both administrations, appears more concerned about the choice of font than addressing the significant chaos occurring in the world.

Blinken had good reason for the change he initiated.

And I would not say this is evidence either of them either of them neglected diplomacy and world affairs. Thats more evidenced by their divergent approaches to department expertise and morale.

Secretary Rubio orders diplomats to return to using Times New Roman, ousting Biden's 'wasteful' 'Woke' Calibri

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