Tag Archives: history

Poof! It’s Gone. Maybe.

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We think Donald Trump‘s name has been removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. At least, that what Trump’s handpicked board of directors told the District Court for the District of Columbia in a filing on Saturday. The removal had been ordered by the court two weeks earlier in a decision enforcing the Center’s original statutory name.

Trump’s name was added in December 2025 after he replaced the Kennedy Center’s leadership and the new board voted to rename the institution. The court found this action illegal, ruling that the board cannot unilaterally change the name of a national memorial.

In his 94-page decision, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote, “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

The renaming triggered a large outcry and a boycott of the Center by patrons, performers, and donors. A crowd of several hundred people gathered on Saturday at the Center to witness the removal of Trump’s name from the exterior. Which brings us to my use of the word “maybe.”

While the Trump lettering was put up by workers on simple lifts, workers Saturday first erected an expansive scaffold in front of the lettering. Then they draped a large curtain or tarp to prevent people from watching their work. Several web cams had been pointed on the sign, transmitting the image around the world. The curtain remains up on Sunday morning. We have only the sworn statement of Trump’s board of directors that the name has been removed.

Why is the curtain still up? Perhaps Trump just couldn’t stand to see the empty space his name once filled. And didn’t want to watch his name coming down.

This is not the end of the lawsuit, which had been brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio trustee who sued her fellow trustees for adding Trump’s name to the title of the Kennedy Center. Hours before Friday’s deadline, two courts denied the Kennedy Center’s last-ditch attempt to delay the removal, even as crews erected scaffolding next to the building.

Judge Cooper ruled at 1 p.m. that the Kennedy Center’s lawyers failed to demonstrate they were likely to win their appeal or that the center would suffer “irreparable harm” if Trump’s name were removed. At 3:46 p.m., Justice Department lawyers representing the center appealed Cooper’s denial, filing an emergency motion for a stay with the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Shortly after 7 p.m., the appeals court denied the second attempt. But the appeal will continue.

The addition of Trump’s name sparked immediate backlash from the arts community and members of the Kennedy family, who argued that the renaming desecrated a living memorial to the assassinated president. Congress established the center in 1964, two months after Kennedy’s death, designating it “the sole national monument to his memory within the city of Washington and its environs.”

Trump’s Department of Justice, paid for by taxpayers, represents him in these cases.

Last week the Center was also sued by the Washington National Opera. The WNO performed in the Center for fifty years but decamped when Trump took over. The opera claims the Center is refusing to return more than $17 million dollars of endowment contributions, gifts and donations which it managed on behalf of the WNO.

June 16 Update

Official word from The Kennedy Center is that the tarps will stay up for the “two-year renovation” and “replacement” of the marble facade slabs. Trumpian subtext, “OK, my name may be removed, but I’m not going to let you see it!!!! Na Na Na Na-Na.” And make no mistake about it, Trump is still the Chairman of The Kennedy Center, and his “Board” are 100% partisan sycophants.  The Kennedy Center is still in mortal danger.

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Trump Meets the Press

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This goes on my list of most memorable television interviews. And I have seen many.

Donald Trump sat for an interview with Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s Meet the Press. I have no idea why. Welker announced that she and her crew had been invited to follow Trump to a rally in Wisconsin, where Trump addressed farmers, one of his most supportive constituent groups. Why they continue to overwhelmingly support him is something else I don’t understand. His policies have crippled their export markets and put them on government subsidies, welfare, and threatened their livelihood. Still, he found himself addressing a friendly crowd. Then he sat down with Welker in a barn in the midst of a pouring rainstorm. As the interviewed progressed, the storm moved inside.

You can find both the transcript and the full video here. You should really see it for yourself.

It began as most Trump interviews do. They spoke about the war with Iran, the “anti-weaponization” fund, and the economy. Trump told his usual lies and Welker just moved on. Then something happened. When Welker moved on to talk about elections, including the recent primary in California, and Trump repeated his lies, Welker followed up and demanded proof. That is a rare event. Welker asked the president for any evidence on the gubernatorial race being fraudulent. He responded by accusing the reporter of being “crooked”. “They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked,” said Trump.

Welker then defended herself and tried to ask additional questions, with Trump replying: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this crap. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged.” Trump then brought up previously repeated false claims that he won the 2020 US presidential election.

When Welker tried to ask additional questions, Trump continued to assert that NBC was “crooked” and ended the interview. “Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” said Trump, taking off his microphone. “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.” He stomped on the microphone as he left. These broadcast-standard microphones typically cost between $350 and $450.

I’ve seen interview subjects walk out on interviews before. But never a president. Some mental health experts have analyzed the walkout through the lens of political psychology. They argue that his sudden exit and verbal attacks (e.g., calling the interviewer and networks “crooked”) illustrate his inability to cope with objective pushback. Professionals point out that because he is used to an environment where his statements are frequently accepted without challenge, being confronted with factual discrepancies causes significant volatility.

Here are the last few minutes from NBC’s transcript:

KRISTEN WELKER:

This $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund that’s going to compensate people who say the federal government weaponized the legal system against them. It’s been blocked by the courts, met with opposition from Republicans –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And Democrats.

KRISTEN WELKER:

– in Congress, and Democrats.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Most, excuse me, mostly Democrats.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Mostly Democrats and some Republicans.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Some. Very few Republicans.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Just to be very clear, are you backing off the fund completely as your acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has said, or are you looking for another avenue to revive the fund?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

So let — let me explain what the fund is. People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden administration and Sleepy Joe. They’re vicious. They’re violent, what they did to people. And of course they went after me more than anybody else. They raided Mar-a-Lago and all the other things. But people have been badly hurt. They’ve committed suicide. They’ve lost their jobs. They’re lost their families. They’ve lost their wives. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost everything over a fake weaponization of government. Now, let me just tell you –

KRISTEN WELKER:

So are you looking for a way to revive it?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Well, look. If it was up to me, I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve. People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. Many suicides, think of it. People have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them.

KRISTEN WELKER:

You don’t –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

So me, personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans. You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that’s great. If they don’t get it approved, I’d be disappointed.

KRISTEN WELKER:

All right. We’re going to motor through this.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

But you have to understand, people have — have been destroyed by crooked politicians, and they should be reimbursed for that.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6th should get taxpayer money?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it. I can tell you this: 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, cause you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, there is no evidence to –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

A guy like Bolton was a dirty cop –

KRISTEN WELKER:

But there is no evidence that– but there’s no evidence that people who –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Oh, you think Comey was a straight cop?

KRISTEN WELKER:

We had 170 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Comey was a dirty cop.

KRISTEN WELKER:

No, no, but the people who assaulted police officers.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

They had FBI — listen to me. They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI “Go into the building.” Those people are walking around, they’re looking, “Oh, isn’t this nice?” They weren’t in– they were being ushered into the building.

KRISTEN WELKER:

There’s no evidence of that, sir. There’s no evidence of that.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You had a bunch of dirty cops, and frankly, what they did was weaponization of our government.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But sir, there– there’s no evidence of that. More than a thousand people pleaded guilty to crimes –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, well, yeah, no, there’s none. You know what they do?

KRISTEN WELKER:

Would you –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Try looking at the tapes one time.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Would you take it off the table?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Look at the tapes one time.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay, but 172 people did plead guilty to assaulting police officers.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know why they pled guilty?

KRISTEN WELKER:

Should they be exempt –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Because they told they were going to jail for 15 years –

KRISTEN WELKER:

– from receiving funds?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

– if they didn’t.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Should they –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

They pled guilty because they were frightened. They went down. They were ushered into a building. Many of them were arrested without even going into the building.

KRISTEN WELKER:

You’d be okay with them receiving taxpayer dollars?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated. Now, with that being said, the, as I understand it, the weaponization fund was going to set up a group of people, people that could be picked by anybody, fair people, smart people, and they will go on an individual case basis.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Okay.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the weaponization fund. I love the idea, because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden, he’s not smart enough to know what’s going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, what they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.

KRISTEN WELKER:

All right, this is, just to be very clear, there’s no evidence of what you’re saying, but let me ask about Todd Blanche.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

There’s a lot of evidence.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let me ask about Todd Blanche.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Listen — listen to me — listen to me.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let’s talk about Todd Blanche.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Well, it’s not been presented in a court of a law.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

The election was rigged. It was a dirty election.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Mr. President –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And it’s happening again right now in California.

KRISTEN WELKER:

— you’ve never presented evidence –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s happening right now in California

KRISTEN WELKER:

– that the 2020 election was rigged.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Right now, it’s look at what’s happening in California.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Where’s the evidence to that?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s four days –

KRISTEN WELKER:

The Republicans are doing well in California.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

In California, it’s, no they’re not. They’re dropping fast because it’s a rigged election. Let me tell you, it’s four days and they aren’t even close to coming up with the –

KRISTEN WELKER:

That’s how they count the votes in California.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.

KRISTEN WELKER:

There’s — What? Do you have evidence to support that?

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

It’s– all I have to do is look. All I have to do is look.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But that’s not evidence.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And I listen. And I listen to people. And let’s see what happens.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But sir, that’s not evidence, and that’s how they count the votes in California–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they’re nowhere close to picking a winner?

KRISTEN WELKER:

State and local officials acknowledge they are slow. They’re urging–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

No, they’re crooked.

KRISTEN WELKER:

– they’re urging the votes to be counted quickly. That’s how they vote in California.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked.

KRISTEN WELKER:

To be fair, I’m not crooked. But let’s continue.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Really? Well, you play right into their hands then.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let’s continue.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let’s continue.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You play right into their hands with this stuff. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged. Do you know that I won an election in a landslide and I got 94% bad press.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But Mr. President –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You know why I got that?

KRISTEN WELKER:

– you’ve never presented –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Because you have no credibility.

KRISTEN WELKER:

-evidence. But you’ve never presented evidence it was rigged. Let’s keep talking about, I want to talk about Todd Blanche.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You have more evidence, there’s more evidence than ever presented.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Let’s talk about–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Your elections in this country –

KRISTEN WELKER:

– you went to court.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

We’re like a third world country.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But sir –

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

Your elections are crooked and you’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But Mr. President–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.

KRISTEN WELKER:

But Mr. President–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

You’re a one-sided crooked network. Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.

KRISTEN WELKER:

Mr. President, let’s — please, I traveled all the way to Wisconsin.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I’ve sat in the rain with you–

KRISTEN WELKER:

I traveled all — I know. I traveled all the way–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

I sat in the rain with you for an hour.

KRISTEN WELKER:

–to Wisconsin.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

On and off in the rain, and I’ve given you enough time. You ought to straighten out your press, because you know what?

KRISTEN WELKER:

Mr. President–

PRES. DONALD TRUMP:

A country can never be great with a dishonest press.

KRISTEN WELKER:

– we traveled all — listen. We traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview.

This is one for the record books.

#####

Memorial Day

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Memorial Day is a day for reflection. The day honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Observed every year on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day in a nod to the tradition of placing flowers or other decorative displays at gravesites.

Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War, in which 620,000 soldiers died. The high death toll due in part to the fact that the total includes the fallen from both sides. Approximately 360,000 Union soldiers and 260,000 Confederate soldiers. All Americans.

What we now call Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971. Today, we remember our fallen from all our wars.

Post-Civil War Military Death Tolls
War or ConflictYears of U.S. InvolvementTotal U.S. Military Deaths
World War II1941–1945405,399
World War I1917–1918116,516
Vietnam War1965–197358,220
Korean War1950–195336,574
Global War on Terror (Iraq & Afghanistan)2001–2021~7,073
Spanish-American War18982,446
Persian Gulf War1990–1991383

It is common on this day to visit cemeteries and memorials, such as the Arlington National Cemetery, to place American flags and wreaths on the graves of the fallen. At 3:00 p.m. local time, all Americans are encouraged to pause for a minute of silence to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Many communities host local parades and commemorative ceremonies to honor their local fallen heroes.

It is also common for the civilian leaders of our government to pay tribute by placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solder. Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Pete Hegseth performed those duties at Arlington on this day. Trump paid special tribute in a formal address at Arlington to the thirteen soldiers killed, so far, in our current war in Iran.

The United States has a long tradition requiring the military to answer to the civilian leadership. The Constitution makes the president Commander-In-Chief but at the same time assigns to Congress the power to declare war. Congress hasn’t done that since June 4, 1942, when it declared war against Axis-aligned Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania during World War II. Prior to that, Congress declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, followed by Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941.

Yet at least in my lifetime, we almost always seem to be at war. Since World War II, the United States has engaged in major conflicts—such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the post-9/11 wars—without formal declarations of war. Instead, military actions have been conducted under Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) passed by Congress. Or via unilateral executive action. Congress did pass a so-called War Powers Resolution which is supposed to give the legislative branch the ability to stop a president’s unilateral military actions. But historically, Congress has rarely been willing or able to invoke it. And presidents, including the current administration, argue the Act is UnConstitutional.

The Framers feared concentrating the decision to go to war in the hands of a single person. James Madison noted that the executive branch was “most interested in war, and most prone to it,” which is why they entrusted the power to the legislature. The original draft of the Constitution gave Congress the power to make war. The Framers specifically changed this to declare war, with Madison recording that this substitution empowered the president only to repel “sudden attacks” on the country.

Presidents have gone well beyond that “original intent.”

Something to reflect on.

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What Would Tom Say?

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What Would Tom Say? That’s the question running through my mind as I watched Charles III, King of Great Britain and Ireland and lots of other places, address a joint session of the Congress of the United States of America.

Tom is Thomas Jefferson, founding father, first Secretary of State, third President, and principal author of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain by the thirteen colonies henceforth to be known as the United States of America.

In the Declaration, written 250 years ago, Jefferson accuses Britain’s then King George III of being a tyrant, “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

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Trump the Cruel

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When I wrote about the tragic murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, I noted the tremendous outpouring of sentiment saluting them not only for their contributions to the entertainment industry but also for their role in the community and their humanitarian work. I did mention that there was one notable dissent, and said I’d talk about it in the future.

I did not want to spoil the moment then and in truth I do not want to do so now. The problem is that, as the world is painfully aware, the dissent came from Donald Trump and he, by virtue of the position he holds, cannot be ignored. I resent that he dominates the news. I resent that he takes all the oxygen out of the room. I resent that he is the worst example of a human being I have ever seen. But he can’t be ignored. He must be called out. Rob Reiner would have wanted it that way.

Within hours of the time the news about the Reiners’ killing broke, Trump had put a post on his captive social media platform that was probably the most vicious thing I have ever seen. I asked one of my AI assistants what was the most common adjective being used to describe it and the response was, “cruel,” followed by “inappropriate,” “disrespectful,” “distasteful,” “callous,” “vile,” “incendiary.” and “depraved.” With my apologies, just in case you haven’t seen it yourself, read it and judge for yourself.

Trump’s post itself described Reiner as having a “mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” and called him a “deranged person”. 

Trump’s problem with Reiner is that the actor and director was also a progressive activist,  a supporter of Democratic candidates, and an outspoken critic of Trump .  A few hours after the post, Trump told a reporter that Reiner was “a deranged person” who “was very bad for our country.”

In the decade since he announced his presidential campaign by branding immigrants as criminals and rapists, the accepted wisdom about Donald Trump has become that no matter how outrageous are the things he says, he feels no consequences. This time was a little, just a little, different.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) labeled the discourse “inappropriate and disrespectful,” challenging his GOP colleagues to defend it. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) a former staunch ally, she rebuked the president, stating the deaths were a “family tragedy” that should be met with “empathy,” not politics. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), both condemned the remarks as “wrong,” urging for “sympathy and compassion” instead of political attacks. And conservative commentators including Jenna Ellis (Trump’s former lawyer) and David Urban (former senior adviser) called the remarks “indefensible” and a “horrible example”. 

We are tempted to just throw up our hands and ignore the monster. But Trump didn’t stop with one vile act. Having already turned the Oval Office into a cheap looking gold filigreed imitation of The Palace of Versailles, he added giant ornate gold letters labeling the rooms of the White House, like the signs one sees in the memory section of an assisted living facility, and created a “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring pictures of past leaders with grossly unflattering images for men he doesn’t like;

Trump has now added to the rogues gallery plaques which offer partisan comments on the past presidents, reflecting his personal perspective. Joe Biden‘s plaque repeats a false claim that the 46th president, a Democrat, took office “as a result of the most corrupt election ever,” when, in fact, he defeated Mr. Trump in 2020 in both the popular vote and the Electoral College. Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, is labeled “one of the most divisive political figures in American history.”

Trump also demanded, and was granted, free television time on December 17. Instead of a holiday address, or an announcement of a major event, Trump used 18 minutes for one of his regular rants basically saying everything has been great since he returned to office and anything that isn’t great is the Democrats’ fault. His delivery was so frenetic he had many wondering if he was under the influence of some form of medication.

But Trump’s pièce de résistance for this holiday season has to be the rebranding of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. At the beginning of the year, Trump fired members of the Center’s board, appointed loyal lackeys in their place, and had them “elect” him chairman. He subsequently approved all the performers named winners of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, ordered a redesign of award medal which was originally created in 1978 and used ever since, and named himself as host of the award ceremony.

Then came the announcement, from the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rather than from Trump’s hand-picked board, that the center will now be known as “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center later confirmed the announcement. The center’s web site carried a new logo within hours. The next day, workers were installing new signs on the exterior of the building. Trump said he was honored and surprised by the gesture. That is just more Trump BS. He had been referring to the center as “Trump-Kennedy” for months.

Not that it matters to Trump, but this renaming appears to be illegal. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was established by the John F. Kennedy Center Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 76h–76s, which outlines its purpose, governance, and operational framework. The law specifies the name, makes the center the only living memorial for President Kennedy within the District of Columbia, and precludes other names, plaques, or other citations. This is just one more example of Trump satisfying his ego by sticking his name where it does not belong. And doing so in defiance of the law.

This is one more item that will find its way into the courts. Or be reversed if and when the people in power are changed by the voters. Hint, hint. Or we can let Kerry Kennedy, niece of John F. Kennedy, and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy (the senior one), take care of it.

A footnote…. The TV ratings for the Kennedy Center Honors program Trump hosted were down 35% compared to last year’s ratings. That is the program’s lowest rating ever.

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Rubio’s Woke War

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The Secretary of State is considered the senior advisor to the president. Dean of the cabinet. He is fourth in the line of succession to the presidency. The first Secretary of State was none other than Thomas Jefferson.

The current holder of this key office is Marco Rubio, the 72nd secretary. He used to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2025 and has long been a prominent figure in Republican politics. You would think his hands were full. His State Department is grappling with major foreign policy challenges like deterring China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere, managing migration pressures from Latin America, the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, negotiating peace efforts in the Middle East, and handling military against Venezuela.

But Rubio, or as Donald Trump used to call him, “Little Marco,” has something else on his mind. Fonts. Specifically, the typeface used by America’s diplomats on documents. Rubio has ordered diplomats to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman.

Against the backdrop of all the crisis the nation is facing, the font edict looks less like a matter of professionalism and more like a symbolic skirmish. A way to score points in domestic culture battles while the department wrestles with urgent global crises.

The story behind the memo is made clear when you consider the order reverses a shift by President Joe Biden’s administration to the less formal typeface that Rubio called wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of US government documents. In other words, if Biden did it, it must be reversed. We already know Trump is obsessed with Biden. Now we know Rubio shares the syndrome.

Experts say Calibri is modern, clean, and screen-friendly, while Times New Roman is traditional, formal, and optimized for dense print text. The choice between them often depends on whether you want readability on digital displays or a classic, authoritative look in print. So, this is a judgment call.

But more telling, the Biden administration’s decision to switch fonts originated in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office. DEI is the number one boogeyman for the Trump administration. The Biden administration had made the switch because Calibri is generally considered to be more accessible for people with reading challenges due to the font’s simpler shapes and wider spacing, which make its letters easier to distinguish.

“Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality,” Rubio said in a cable sent to all US embassies and consulates abroad. In it, he said the 2023 shift to the sans serif Calibri font emerged from misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor, Antony Blinken.

Anything that helps people with disabilities access government documents is not on the Trump agenda. Since taking over the State Department in January, Rubio has systematically dismantled DEI programs in line with President Donald Trump’s broader instructions to all federal agencies. Rubio has abolished offices and initiatives that had been created to promote and foster diversity and inclusion, including in Washington and at overseas embassies and consulates, and also ended foreign assistance funding for DEI projects abroad.

“Although switching to Calibri was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEI it was nonetheless cosmetic,” according to Rubio’s cable obtained by the Associated Press and first reported by The New York Times.

Americas can rest easy. The world may be going to hell but at least the nation’s chief foreign policy expert has his fonts under control.

#####

The Donnie-Mander

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The Supreme Court, or rather the six Republican justices on the Supreme Court, have handed Donald Trump another victory. They issued a stay, blocking the order of a three-judge panel in Texas, which found the recent reapportionment of the state’s Congressional districts to be racially motivated and therefor illegal. The six, has been their pattern all year, issued their order in the dark of night on the “shadow” docket without an explanation or opinion. Greg Abbott, et al. v. League of United Latin American Citizens, et al.

The map the lower court panel blocked was seen as one of the most aggressive mid‑decade gerrymanders in recent history. The Supreme Court stay allows Texas to proceed with the new map, which analysts say could give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterms.

Gerrymandering 101

What, in a nutshell, is gerrymandering? The Encyclopedia Britannica has a wonderful explanation from which I have borrowed the graphic above. The American Constitution requires that every ten years we conduct a “census” to apportion representation in the House of Representatives. The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 2 begins, “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.”

Once the number of representatives is determined by the census, it is up to each state to draw the maps of legislative districts. Because the states have statewide elections for senators, governors, and to decide members of the Electoral College, there is data on how the state as a whole divides between the parties. Using the graphic above we find of a total population of fifty, thirty (60%) are orange voters while twenty (40%) are purple voters.

From that starting point, the state could draw “fair” maps which distributed the people in such a manner to generate three orange and two purple representatives, proportionate to the statewide electorate. But the state could also gerrymander, producing an outcome, using the example on the right above, of five orange and no purple representatives, or two orange and three purple representatives.

The term “gerrymander” was coined as a portmanteau of the name Elbridge Gerry and the word “salamander.” Gerry, who was the governor of Massachusetts, signed a redistricting law that redrew district lines in a way that favored his party. Critics said the new map created a weirdly shaped district which resembled a salamander. A satirical cartoon published in the Boston Gazette on March 26, 1812, popularized the word. The cartoon depicting the irregular shape helped turn a local political attack into a lasting political term.

The Donnie-Mander

The political parties have a long history of manipulating their maps to various degrees every ten years when the new census requires a reallocation of seats. But two things make this year’s manipulations unusual. First, this is a mid-census reapportionment. The last census was in 2020 with new maps taking effect in 2022 in most states. Second, this mid-census revision to the 2022 map came at the direct demand of Donald Trump. Texas’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott heeded Trump’s call and generated a new map that may add as many as five Republicans to the House in 2026. That is the map the Supreme Court now says can be put into place. With the Republican control in the House hanging on a tiny seven vote majority, Trump is clearly afraid the Democrats could gain control in the next election.

This Trump inspired Donnie-Mander, now sanctified by the Supreme Court, has set off an unprecedented arms race of mid-decade redistricting across the country. Missouri and North Carolina have passed their own Republican leaning maps. California voters approved a map designed to cancel out the Texas gains. Virginia and Maryland are working on new maps favoring Democrats. Illinois is considering one. Florida and Indiana are working on revisions on the Republican side.

National Public Radio has been keeping score on its web site. As of this writing they show a slight gain for Republicans on the basis of district voting patterns in next year’s election. Considering his atrocious polling numbers, Trump is going to need all the help he can get. The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, one of my favorite pollsters, sees 2026 shaping up to be much too close to call.

Congress has over the years tried to set standards and take control of the redistricting process. It has never been able to pass a law to bring order out of the chaos.

The majority on the Supreme Court, by allowing these partisan mid-decade redistrictings, has created a free-for-all which is a lose-lose for the American people. But 2026 does promise to be a good show.

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