Is Marco Rubio a Type Reich-Er?! The 'War' on Fonts at the State Department Gets Even More Asinine

AP Photo/Richard Drew

We knew going into 2025 that this would be a year of wildly imbalanced reactions and emotional outrage. The return of President Trump was assured to have leftists and the press acting out in a fashion that would defy common sense. And wow, have they ever delivered. We had low expectations, but holy hell.

Advertisement

Over the course of this year just some of the daft positions we have seen taken involved complaining about cutting government waste, opposing the fighting of crime in our cities, suggesting good job numbers and lowered inflation were bad for the economy, defending violent illegal aliens, cheering against a peace deal in Ukraine, and up to the current stance of supporting Venezuelan drug cartels.

This is all the result of the inherent need to criticize anything President Trump and his administration propose. The need to oppose all activity by rote descends even to the most mundane and ridiculous of moves. As Bob Hoge pointed out yesterday, there was contempt when the State Department decided to alter the typeface used in official correspondence.


Erasing Biden's DEI Legacy...One Font At a Time


This outrage over something so entirely innocuous has become even worse. By “worse,” we mean “entirely ignorant." To start, there is a programming industry outlet that covered this dastardly decision, declaring that this was not just a meager alteration of correspondence. According to Devdiscourse, what is taking place is declared to be the “font wars”: 

This shift emerges amid broader Republican efforts, spearheaded by figures like Trump, to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across federal agencies and sectors. Critics argue these policies oppose merit-based ideals and disproportionately disadvantage certain groups.

Advertisement

Again, this display of follicle ignition is all over the decision to change a typeface. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the switch to Calibri in 2023, and few people were expressing their outrage over that decision. If you are wondering how a font will disproportionately disadvantage anyone, or how it is supposed to “enhance accessibility for individuals with disabilities,” you will be left wanting for an explanation. Just know, this decision was wrong… somehow.

But this is far from over. Oh no, this is the Trump 2.0 era, so things need to be ratcheted up to the asinine red line. Journalist Steve Herman caught wind of this benign directive, and he took the ball and sprinted for a touchdown. That he was wrongheaded and ended up spiking the ball in his own end zone for a safety will be explained in a bit.

Herman, you need to understand, was a longtime correspondent for the Voice of America network. He was suspended back in February because he was tabbed as being far too partisan for the outlet. About a month later, most of the VOA staff were let go amid the initial defunding of public broadcasters. Herman is now Executive Director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation. His political bias is rather evident.

So when Mr. Herman saw this editorial edict made at State, he jumped in with his brand of rational analysis. The lack of solid journalistic principles is on display.

Advertisement

There was no quote from Marco Rubio and no excerpt given from the internal memorandum. Although there was a note that the change had been made during DEI installation moves, he referenced that the desire inside the agency was to go back to a typeface that was more professional (the memo announcing the change was headlined “Return To Tradition”).  

But Herman was far from done. He took things to the Godwin Level, as he assesses what this new font directly REALLY means.

It really is astounding. That a supposedly learned and wise journalist would devolve into the realm of emotional hysteria over the move to change the font at an agency, and elevate this as a move of a fascist regime, is too hilarious. And to see how the emotional fervor got the better of Steve Herman, just use his own standards here.

He states that “banning” a font is a Hitlerian move, but as he attests in his first tweet, what Rubio is doing is reverting to the long-used typeface always used at State. It was the change ordered in 2023 that was the more audacious move (if we are to traffic in the emotional state of this discussion). Therefore, by Steve Herman’s own explanation, if anyone was behaving in Nazi-like fashion, that would have been Antony Blinken.

Advertisement

This is the state of things in our media these days. We are reduced to having to introduce facts - and sanity - into discourse involving the most mundane of executive decisions. So yes, we have to wallow in the ignorance that is outrage over a change in font styles at an agency. For that, Steve Herman and any other journo upset over this need to hit DELETE on their credibility.

Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie.

Help us continue exposing their grift by reading news you can trust. Join RedState’s VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos