I went the entire four years of the Trump “presidency” without hearing the story about his “Diet Coke Button.” Maybe I did hear it once and then I just immediately forgot it because Donald Trump is a white supremacist fascist and there were more pressing concerns. Here’s the story: when Trump moved into the White House, he became enchanted with the trappings of the Oval Office. There was just one thing missing: a button he could push to immediately summon a Diet Coke, his favorite beverage. He guzzles Diet Coke constantly, always has. So, Trump had a Diet Coke button installed. It was a little box front-and-center on the Resolute Desk. And it only took a few hours for President Biden to uninstall that sh-t.
President Biden has removed the Diet Coke button. When @ShippersUnbound and I interviewed Donald Trump in 2019, we became fascinated by what the little red button did. Eventually Trump pressed it, and a butler swiftly brought in a Diet Coke on a silver platter. It's gone now. pic.twitter.com/rFzhPaHYjk
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) January 21, 2021
Here’s the thing: I enjoy a diet soda pop, as President Biden would say, but it’s absolutely crazy that Trump even had a Diet Coke button installed, and it’s equally crazy that it was someone’s job to carry a Diet Coke into the Oval Office on a silver platter. Can presidents not simply install a mini-fridge in that Oval Office passageway? So, I’m glad President Biden uninstalled the Diet Coke button, even if it was a missed opportunity for Biden to simply make it into an ice cream button. “See, kids, if I push this button on my desk, a man will walk in with an ice cream cone in less than a minute, I swear to God!”
The Washington Post had a story on Inauguration Day about the quick changes that President Biden requested for the Oval Office beyond, apparently, removing the Diet Coke button. Gone are the Andrew Jackson portraits and Nazi paraphenalia. President Biden’s Oval Office includes the triumphant return of the navy rug, portraits of FDR, Alexander Hamiliton, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Scattered around the room, President Biden has busts of Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Kennedy, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Cesar Chavez. Pres. Biden also wanted “a sculpture depicting a horse and rider by Allan Houser of the Chiricahua Apache tribe that once belonged to the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) — the first Japanese American elected to both houses of Congress.”
(The Diet Coke Button was the small wood box beside Trump’s phones.)
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Not gonna lie, I would like a diet Coke button!
I am asking my boss for this
Why though? When I do crave Coke, I ask for Coke No Sugar. It’s similar to regular Coke. I find Diet Coke not as good. I don’t know what Coke No Sugar is called in the US.
Coke zero. I love a cherry coke zero. But I try to stay away from soda pop and so when I really want one i get up and go buy one. Not surprised standing is too much trouble for trumpy.
@darla cherry coke zero fan here too.
Another cherry coke zero fan! I’d love to have someone serve me a nice cold one on demand!
Coca Cola from Mexico. It’s the original recipe and uses cane sugar. It makes me happy.
I love the Mexican version as well! I need to add that to my next grocery list, as I have not bought any bottles in some time. It’s a wonderful treat.
I like Cherry coke zero but not regular coke zero. I rarely drink soda anymore so when I have one, I just go for a regular coke.
This is a little late since had outpatient surgery yesterday. So glad IT is gone. Much creepier than the clown in S King’s novel. That being said even though a Diet Coke button sounds ridiculous, what a treat that would be. If it were regular Coke Zero that is.
Since not being able to tolerate the taste of coffee even most candy coffees is an issue. C Z serves as my substitute. I drink at least part of one a day.
That’s all except I am so happy about the new POTUS & especially the new VP.
I drink Diet coke and will always ONLY drink diet coke. Regular coke is too sugary. When I go out to eat and they ask, “Is diet pepsi okay?” I groan and say yesssss haha. I do apologize to the waiter and say its not you and for the most part they agree with me! For a while I was buying coke zero but it actually made my skin break out, and that was only having 1 a day, so I switched back to the OG diet coke.
Yeah me too. I’d install one next to the bed and buzz for my kids. Lol
I need a diet coke button now. Like now.
Honestly, the diet coke button is one of the few things that never bothered me. If I was the person who had to bring him his soda, I’d much prefer to just hear a ding or a light flash (whatever the button did) to notify me rather than have to actually talk to the man as he asks for a diet coke.
Agree. He is a horrific person in every way but I have zero problem with a diet coke button (although I don’t see how he’s survived life with such awful eating habits). Giving him less opportunity or need to interact with others was probably a great thing.
I am a long-time EA/AA and have worked for many good and many TERRIBLE bosses. The worst one I ever had would start dramatically coughing inside her office and that was my cue to go get her a glass of ice water. Within a minute of the coughing or she would lose her mind. Definitely should have installed a button for her.
Emily that’s awful. Wtf is wrong with some people? She can’t ask nicely or get it her damn self? I think the craziest thing I used to have to do for my bosses was evict spiders. They wouldn’t let me step on them, I’d have to get a cup and catch the damn things and let them outside. These were ugly ass wolf spiders, too. Not any of the cute kind. It was the one task I did with as much ill grace as I could muster. Eye roll. Deep sigh. Death glare. That’s probably why they asked me to do this after the first time. It was kind of funny. I thought it was weird I got asked to do that particular job but in talking to other assistants I discovered it was pretty commonplace. At home it’s my husband’s job. I love that man. He is my hero.
I once had to online date on behalf of my socially awkward boss. Took her pics, set up her profile and crafted her responses. By the time the training wheels came off she was almost capable of crafting entire responses solo.
I feel like I heard the diet coke button story years ago (like maybe he was first inaugurated?) and I just assumed it was a joke, it sounds like the kind of thing that Colbert or someone would make up to poke fun at Trump – “he even has a diet coke button, that’s how obsessed he is with soda!” I had no clue it was an actual thing until this week lol.
i’m so glad to see he got a new chair, did they re-wallpaper as well? I cant tell in these pics.
Am sure there is space in the office to have a mini fridge or at least outside where the PA sits – I would have mine filled with Dr Pepper and my fav beer.
Doesn’t look like they wallpapered or changed the curtains – I think the gold curtains were a Trump demand as we know he loves gold but I don’t know if they have always been there.
They changed the curtains back to the curtains that Clinton used. It’s not super obvious in these pictures, but they’re more yellow than gold.
They changed the curtains, the carpet, the paintings, the statuary, the furniture, the personal photos. Kept the desk. Remarkable how quickly the staff was able to get this done.
Things had of course been pre-selected, but did read somewhere the chief usher got flack from the Trumps for showing the selection book to the Bidens while the fight over the election was still going on.
And then they fired the chief usher. Ordinarily that isn’t a political position, staff often stays on through administrations. This one may have been an ok guy, but had come from the Trump hotel organization, so why would you want him there? The Trumps had fired the previous chief usher, the first woman in that position, to bring in their own person.
Meanwhile, am glad Kaiser posted the image of the upcoming Time cover on the other thread. It’s quite a summary of the last four years.
Yeah, it was reported on when he first came to office.
I must have thought the same, it was a joke or rumor. Good Lord.
I used to love Diet Coke back in college, but then stopped drinking soda all together. If I have any of that artificial sweetener now, it tastes HORRIBLE, and then I get an awful, awful headache.
Yes! I drank diet coke in college and after. The horrible taste of the first one of the day -ugh! I cut back after I realized I was addicted, but didn’t quit until I was pregnant. If I’m going to drink anything bubbly now, it’s most often ginger ale, sparkling water or a regular coke. When I was a child, (Oh boy, I sound so old right now 😂) we had Coca-Cola syrup from the pharmacy that we would have spoonfuls of when we were ill. So I still like to have some when I’ve been ill, even though it seems like it would not be the best choice.
@Lucy2 … When I stopped using artificial sweetener, my joints stopped aching and I was once again able to comfortably walk up and down stairs. I’ve stopped drinking soda, too, but the regular kind. 🙂
I still can’t believe we elected a cartoon character as a president.
If only removing the brainwashing of his band of neo Nazis was as easy as removing the diet coke button from the resolute desk.
MS, YES to all you said.
I know, right? He cared only about the trappings of power with zero regard for anyone but himself. We are lucky we survived his reign of terror and there is so much work to be done to try to repair all that he destroyed.
As for the diet coke button, my son told me he read that Trump drank 12 a day! So gross.
Esmom, you left out one thing he cared SUPREMELY about: Grifting, and filling his own pockets with as much as he could take from the US treasury (in the form of staying at HIS golf course properties, gov parties at M-a_L (and *doubling* the entrance fee to $200K!), making the SS rent the rooms, golf carts; steering visiting diplomats to HIS hotels (they thinking/being told it might curry “favor” for their cause…SO much grifting!!
Not all survived. 🙁
I need a tea button. The switch on the kettle doesn’t count.
The articles I read stated Trump drinks up to 12 a day – which is crazy. I wonder if he had one installed at Mar a lago. Ha, I just pictured a room set up like the oval office at Mar a lago with him sitting there and Melania whispering to the staff: shhhhhhhhh, it keeps him quiet and happy – let’s just roll with it.
That’s reportedly what they did with his father when he was elderly, they set him up in an office to do nothing to keep him busy.
12 a day explains a lot, including the 3 am tweeting (no more, hahaha!) Someone I know was having health problems and told her doctor she was drinking probably a 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke a day, and the doctor was like “YOU HAVE TO STOP!”
It’s crazy how much sugar we consume in a day. I started to keep track of it and it is hidden everywhere. All that sugar and preservatives and his unhealthy diet – it’s a wonder he is functioning the way he is.
Yes, if it’s likely to help kill him before 2024, I say go ahead and give as many cokes as he wants!
That’s a lot of caffeine.
That’s insane. As a teenager I drank a lot of diet coke but nearly 20 years later, it’s a treat I rarely allow myself. Mostly because I can’t seem to digest it properly. My stomach doesn’t like it so I sometimes even prefer regular coke, sugar be damned. HOW does his body tolerate it? Gross.
Was drinking Diet Coke Trump’s way of eating healthy? During this interview is when Tom Newton Dunn got Trump to disparage Meghan just before the state visit to the UK. Not a great guy but he’s been retweeting all the news outlets that picked up his tweet about the removal of the Diet Coke button.
Yes, that diet coke cancels out everything! Reminds me when I worked fast food as a young girl and they would add a diet coke at the end of an unhealthy order.
Yes! I worked at A&W and people would order a Grandpa burger (3 patties) with cheese and bacon, a large poutine and than an XL “diet” coke.
What was the old “joke”… “Can’t be fattening (banana split, ice cream sundae); I’m having a diet Coke!!”
(Dontcha wish! lol. In all seriousness, that much aspartame is just NOT healthy. Large amts. have been tied to dementia/Alzheimers).
@Seraphina – there is a taste difference between regular Coke and Diet Coke. Just like there is between regular Pepsi & Diet. Same with regular Coke & regular Pepsi. Which would explain why someone would order a Diet soad at a fast food place (or any place).
The aspartame is what makes it good. I don’t order Diet Coke because it’s “healthier”, I order it because I need MOAR fake sugar.
I’d heard about the Diet Coke button but thought it was a joke. So did my tax dollars seriously pay for someone to sit there with a silver platter and an unlimited supply of Diet Coke until they were summoned? No wonder I still breathe a faint sigh of relief every time I see the words “President Biden.”
I posted almost exactly the same thing below. Great minds.
I think this sums up Trump – of all the things he could have used the powers of the presidency for, he chose to use it for showy, personal gratification. I mean, if it was just about getting a diet coke he could have a mini fridge full (there’s room under the desk!). He likes the idea of pressing a button that has it brought to him, “proving” how important he is, yet his imagination doesn’t extend beyond diet coke!
Exactly my thoughts!
Agreed
And America lived happily ever after.
The photos of Biden sitting behind that desk have me emotional.
You ain’t lying. I am STILL riding the inaugural high. I swear, my level of giddy and euphoria rises to that of being on morphine. (Had medical surgeries due to my Endo and usually morphine came into play when my pre-surgical pain became unbearable). Let me tell, nothing negative phases you. Attitude = everything’s great. Sunshine 🌞 . Rainbows 🌈. Unicorns. 🦄.
hate to rain on our parade here cause I’m so on board but google barack obama oval office desk and you’ll see that same box with the red button. no, seriously, google it, he looks spectacular working (｡♥‿♥｡)
Ok I did. The box was a regular call button and Obama was photographed once with it. It didn’t sit on his desk permanently we with the purpose of bringing in carbonated beverages.
there are dozens of photos, and the box is identical, wood with the red button, and clearly visible next to obama who’s most often on the phone, working. did you google the exact phrase “barack obama oval office desk”?
Yeah this article mentions all the changes that Joe Biden made to the office and they talk about how the diet-Coke button has been spotted before with Obama and provide a link to a pic of it. They said it was never on the actual desk though.
Trump – classy as always.
P.S – J.B’s chair is so much nicer than Drumpfs was and I LOVE the blue rug.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-22/joe-biden-oval-office-donald-trump-decoration-change-white-house/13072634
Yes, it’s just a button that alerts the chief usher or aide, after all, the equivalent of paging someone who works for you, but most presidents reportedly used it for actual work (bringing papers, I would assume). Only Trump used it this way as far as I’m aware.
Unbelievable that someone would drink 12 diet sodas a day. Doesn’t he know that phosphates contrubute to the eroding of your bones. I guess he doesn’t care, he’ll just have someone carry him around on one of those things with the 4 posts on each end like the emperor he thinks he is.
I don’t understand how he is still alive at his age with the way he eats.
He may still be alive but his brain is rotting because everything that comes out of his mouth is racist Fascist rubbish. His body ain’t a healthy shape either. Don’t talk about his heart, it’s dead.
All that aspartame too in the Diet Coke … I would think that’s messed further with his mind. (There are a lot of articles on it.) It’s incredible that he would drink so much of it yet I never saw him drinking it or photos of but I’m sure some exist. What a peculiar man who has gotten away with so much since way back in NYC… Even going bankrupt he continued to fail upward. The NYC media was very complicit awed by him for some reason, can’t resist an alleged millionaire. I actually don’t begrudge him in that position a button that calls someone in but it is bizarre that it was expressly for Diet Coke.
Madness. As a side note, I’d have left any Jefferson portraits out of the office myself!
The Andrew Jackson bust was always one of the things that pissed me off, because it was so transparently racist. I don’t think it was just a matter of Trump being asked his favorite President and throwing Jackson’s name out randomly. A lazy, stupid person’s go-to “favorite” is always either Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln. Not many people even think of Jackson at all, except in the context of his horrific treatment of Native Americans. That’s his thing. If not for that, he’d probably be one of those Presidents you always accidentally skipped over when you had to memorize them in elementary school.
It does seem incredibly fitting that Biden would have a bust of Ben Franklin. They would’ve been great friends, hanging out and working on each other’s bitchin’ carriages/Camaros.
LOL I love this vision!
I am disappointed that Biden added FDR, the president that put my father as well as many other AMERICANs in internment camps. I am Native Hawaiian and 5th generation Japanese So…having a sculpture from a Hawaii Japanese senator doesn’t cancel that portrait choice for me.
Sure, it’s Diet ‘Coke’.
His rogue doctor probably puts his medication in that too. I don’t see him as the kind to take his meds correctly and frequently. Don’t think he has even put on a condom.
How about the furor about Biden removing the bust of Winston Churchill? The Sun, Daily Mail etc are up in arms about the perceived snub. And it’s not the first time either; Obama also didn’t have it in his Oval Office, and Boris Johnson, London mayor at the time, had some words about why he thought Obama did it. His tune seems to have changed, big surprise. Biden removing the bust of Churchill is the least of the problems Boris is likely to have in the coming months.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/politics/winston-churchill-bust-oval-office/index.html
Apparently Trump thought he resembled Churchill; reason enough to get it out there!
Yeah I saw this, so which busts of Americans does Johnson have in his office? I am seriously wondering? Anyway, we don’t care. Just because Johnson is less of a buffoon than Trump doesn’t mean he’s not a buffoon.
@Darla, funny you should ask! My previous response vanished, so will try this…
Here’s a thought from the Guardian on that subject: “Incidentally, has a single American reporter based in London ever wondered whether there is or isn’t a bust of FDR or Eisenhower or Mickey Mouse in Downing Street? Don’t be ridiculous.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/22/churchill-bust-tories-culture-war-joe-biden-boris-johnson
The article goes on to comment, among other things, on how Boris is having to figure out how to proceed after his prior Trump a** kissing comment about why “part-Kenyan Obama” didn’t want the Churchill statue there – a remark Biden’s team noted hasn’t been forgotten.
I read that the button has always been there. It connects to a pager for a valet, as a way for the president to summon someone when he needs something. Emperor Babyfingers just abused it as some kind of “parlor trick” to impress people.
Yeah I read the same. I will gleefully dunk on Trump for even the smallest reason, but if you look at previous Presidents they have the same button. The valet probably just learned that all he every wanted was Diet Coke ha!
What happened to the Abe Lincoln bust that one of 45’s minions was seen carrying out of the White House? Hope someone is taking a careful inventory.
I can’t fathom drinking that much soda in one day. In high school, we once poured a can of Coke on a piece of meat and let it sit for 24 hours. The Coke literally dissolved part of the meat—a very effective lesson re the dangers of ingesting phosphoric acid.
Lol I was going to say there’s no busy of Lincoln because it was stolen during the move
OMG when I saw this on Twitter yesterday I thought it was fake! Good lord, I’m breathing deep sighs of relief he’s gone.
My very first order of business would be removing those fugly gold curtains. Nothing says “Trump” more clearly than those monstrosities.
I was a highly skilled assistant to the president of a multi million business. He informed me that my #1 priority was to keep my eye on his coffee cup all day and when it became half full I was to fetch him a fresh cup. Can you imagine?
I can imagine unfortunately. I too had a similar task…only it was a crystal water jug and if it wasn’t refreshed every hour hell would be paid.
Diet coke is worse for you than regular coke. Too many chemicals. It hurts my stomach.
Not surprised. Trump didn’t seem to be the type to get off his rear and get his own Diet Coke. I figure hey it’s better he had a finger on his Diet Coke button than a finger on a nuclear trigger sitting on his desk. Was so glad to see the “football” taken away from him. Now the adults have it and they will treat it with the respect it deserves. Trump had no concept of actions and consequences, just because you have access to a nuclear arsenal it doesn’t mean you get to use it on a whim because a tweet pissed you off.
The interesting thing was, when I saw it I expected it to be chained to someone’s wrist like it always was in 80’s movies.
Gross. I work in customer service/travel. I always know who is American because they order a Diet Coke at 7 in the morning. Canadians always have coffee, tea or water. Normal stuff.
@ DIZZY-Yup, I’m a gross American. Been drinking Diet Dr Pepper in the morning since I was 12.
Stopped after I had a full gastric bypass in 2018. Lately have had trouble with brain fog & no physical energy. Started with small lattes & went to Americanos-ehhh. Just didn’t DO it for me, not satisfying. Had a diet Dr Pepper, man, that DID do it for me! I guess the chemicals & all of the other shite in there is what my body is used too-uh oh.
Weaning back off ddp cuz it gives me heartburn and I’m scared of what it’s doing to my body. The stimulating effects only lasted about a week, but the habit is hard to kick again. But I will!
Yeah. I would like a Diet Coke and dark chocolate button.
I’ll probably get pummeled, but I can’t stand diet any drink except maybe Fresca? When I want Coke or Pepsi or any of it, I buy the real thing, cane sugar and all lol. And if the store carries them hecho en Mexico, all the better. No plastic containers either. Glass or cans.😋 Preferably glass. Don’t worry, we recycle!
You are not alone. Diet drinks taste like straight poison. There is nothing better than an ice cold classic Coke in a glass bottle. I don’t like Mexican Cokes though. Too sweet and taste like Pepsi to me.
I think they might have more caffeine too lol.
I hate diet drinks ! Original Coke only please !
Only the Mexican Coke for me. Target sells it in a 4 pack. If I’m going to drink something so insanely unhealthy it is going to taste as good as possible.
This story is giving me life today! That giant button looks like it opens a trap door for Twitler to drop his enemies into a dungeon. But nope, it was for his sodie pops! 😂
Twitler? LMAO !!!!!
I was yesterdays old when I realized that the diet coke button was not a joke.
smh
I thought Trump used that button to eject people out of the Oval Office if he didn’t like what they had to say to him.
I’d love a tea button!
It is my dream.
I would like a Perrier pink grapefruit sparkling water button installed please. Chop chop!
I think it was really good for Biden to do 8 years under Obama. Probably made him a lot more aware (diversity, racism, etc.). Every white male should get an education like that.
Mine would bring my afternoon tea and some treats to go with it to power through till dinner time.
Remove the button, pressure wash the desk with holy water and light a smudge stick. Maybe call in an exorcist of some denomination. All denominations?
Probably need to buff out “DJT woz ere” somewhere in there as well.
Button removed? I’d say the whole phone system was changed due to bugs and then COVID. Fresh start!