Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the State Department to return to using Times New Roman font on all documents produced by department personnel, reversing a Biden-era directive that changed the font to Calibri.
The change from Times New Roman to Calibri by the Biden administration was done so at the request of the State Department’s Office of Diversity, which noted that the sans serif font of Calibri was notably easier to read for persons with reading disabilities, such as dyslexia, or those who require reading assistance devices.
Rubio, once referred to repeatedly as “Little Marco” by Trump and now forever in a quest to win over the president’s love and affection, said he was making the change back to Times New Roman because the Biden decision was the result of “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. He called it “wasteful,” and said that the return to the serif font would “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.”
And here I thought true professionalism would be producing work that the intended audience could read.
A minor price to pay, I suppose, for the eradication of anything which acknowledges that those with disabilities exist. Or anything that might paint the MAGA-wing of the Republican Party as compassionate or understanding. Or anything other than cruel and spiteful.
Which makes me wonder: How do you justify the cruelty?
There are a lot of MAGAs in this part of the world. Lots of politicians who have put Trump in their campaign ads. Lots of people who fly flags with his name on them. Lots of lawmakers who relay with great pride their willingness to “uphold the Trump agenda.”
And so, I wonder … when you lay down at night, pass by one of the mirrors you haven’t yet broken or thrown out, have to look your children in the eyes, how do you justify all of that cruelty and ugliness?
Because there’s a lot. A whole lot.
Also this month, Trump announced that national parks would no longer offer free admission on Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Juneteenth, but would do so on his birthday.
How do you justify that to your Black friends and neighbors?
Over the last several months, various official social media accounts tied to Trump administration departments, particularly the Department of Homeland Security, have posted what could be charitably called taunting, and perhaps more accurately be deemed cruel and juvenile, posts that make light of mass deportations. They are particularly cruel when you consider that the Trump administration has made a point of targeting non-criminals, longtime residents and even those who have completed their courses to earn U.S. citizenship (with arrests at the ceremony).
Did you celebrate those taunting posts when you were putting up those nativity scenes in the front yard this Christmas season? What about when you were eating at the Mexican restaurants?
When the president called a female reporter “piggy,” did you consider what you’d say to your daughters or nieces or granddaughters about that? Did you consider how that might influence your sons to treat women?
When the president used the term “retarded” to insult someone, did it even bother you? Did it cause you stop and consider why in the world the president of the United States—the leader of the free world—would be publicly insulting anyone in such a crude manner? Did you think back to president of the past—presidents you maybe respected and found inspiring—and try to imagine them using such language?
When the president released a Christmas message addressed to the “radical left lunatics,” did it cause you the slightest bit of concern that perhaps, just maybe, somewhere along the way, you made a mistake when backing or voting for this wretched human?
As I watched people interact this Christmas season, whether it be at parties with friends or family gatherings or out and about shopping and attending various holiday events, the one thing that was so striking—that is always so striking whenever we move from behind a keyboard and into the real world—is how alike we all are. Forget race. Forget income levels. Forget whatever crap we just posted on social media.
The overwhelming majority of us want the same things out of life. We expect the same behaviors out of our children. We expect to be treated with the same respect and fairness. We mostly treat each other in respectful ways.
And yet, somehow, a whole bunch of y’all have decided that a hate-filled, constantly whining, name-calling, narcissistic, egotistical, lying, felonious, cruel, adjudicated sexual abuser who is fighting tooth and nail to cover up documents related to child rape is the best representative of both you and your country.
How can that be? How can you support someone who both exerts and inspires such cruelty? How can you vote for someone who you wouldn’t allow your kids to be around? How can you continue to support a party that refuses endlessly to put a check on this ogre of a human?
How? Just … how?
