The State Department abandons the Calibri font for being “too radical”
President Donald Trump and his administration continue to wage war on liberal and progressive ideas. Caught in the crossfire this time is Calibri, a modern, digital sans-serif font. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a stop to the use of the font for official matters in the White House on December 9, 2025, calling the font “radical,” “wasteful,” and inappropriate for diplomatic relations. However, it has only been two years since Calibri replaced Times New Roman as the State Department’s official font. The Calibri font is one of many things targeted by the Trump administration for simply being inclusive. As the small things build up, the divide in our country only widens.
Times New Roman has been the most commonly used font in newspapers and magazines for the past hundred years. For 20 years, it was the official typeface for the State Department. In 2023, the Biden administration switched the font to Calibri because it was commonly viewed as more disability accessible. The Calibri font was released to the general public in 2006 and was used in Windows, PowerPoint, and Excel. Being in the Sans Serif family, it includes fewer flourishes than Times New Roman; the Calibri font has no “wings” or “feet” on its letters. The simplistic nature makes it easier for people with dyslexia and other reading disabilities.
The administration’s removal of the font is a reflection of the Trump administration’s goal to frame accessibility as wasteful. Since Trump’s inauguration in January of last year, he has gone to great lengths to eliminate Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which, according to him, are wasteful practices. Not only is the abandonment of the Calibri font disrespectful to many citizens with reading disabilities, but it is also a blatant disregard of many accessibility regulations. The font change is one example of an initiative that was established to create equal opportunities, only to be later cut by the Trump administration. The idea that diversity and accessibility initiatives are “too woke” and “wasteful” has been projected by the administration in an attempt to justify these actions. In areas of education, medicine, and research, grants that prioritize people of color or those who are disabled have been withheld. The demonization of “wokeness” has been a central aspect of this presidential term. Trump has repeated his ideology that America will be “woke no longer.” The petty portrayal of the Calibri font as something overly progressive and wasteful is a perfect example of the ways in which inclusivity and diversity have become stigmatized over the past year. It also poses the question of how a font can be “woke” in the first place. It does not have an alternate agenda or embrace any specific culture.
The politicization of this typeface demonstrates how easily something non-partisan can become the opposite. This injection of politics into every facet of life forces Americans to always pick a side, leading to less compromise and fewer solutions. It instead promotes loyalty to a party. The fact that typeface is now up for debate speaks to a larger issue in our political system.
