Joe Biden made quick work of getting down to business on his first official day as the 46th president, attempting to bring the country back to something resembling unity and signing executive orders that reversed a lot of Trump’s recent policies. He also made a very important, very significant change in the Oval Office: he removed the infamous “Diet Coke” call button.
As seen in the below photos shared by Times Radio Chief Political Commentator Tom Newton Dunn, the button had been placed on Trump’s phone and he would use it to summon staffers to bring him the beverage whenever he wanted. It is no longer there.
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
It feels kind of hard to believe that a Diet Coke button would be an actual thing, even though it was something that was openly known. In an interview back in 2017, The Financial Times’ Demetri Sevastopulo wrote about how, while sitting across from Trump in the Oval Office, he noticed the button on a box on his desk. He jokingly asked if it was the nuclear button, to which Trump replied “no no, everyone thinks it is,” before using it to order a diet coke. “Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button,” Trump says to Sevastopulo in the interview.
Naturally, once this was pointed out, Diet Coke started trending immediately on social media. “So many people are asking if this is a joke, and I regret to inform you all it is not,” tweeted author Elizabeth May. “That button really was to order a diet coke. He reportedly drank 12 cans a day. I hate that I know this.”
“Never have I wanted to hear more from Carrie Fisher in my life,” joked Mary Sue Associate Editor Rachel Leishman. (Fisher had a well-known addiction to regular Coke.)
See more reactions below.
https://twitter.com/prof_gabriele/status/1352329014623531008
The sheer, embarrassing stupidity https://t.co/YMxxKozf8y
— rabia O'chaudry (@rabiasquared) January 21, 2021
All of us finding out Family Guy’s trump diet coke button joke was actually real pic.twitter.com/0umXYhk3LP
— Pizza Dad (@Pizza__Dad) January 21, 2021
How cute! A little red button for the man with the cute little hands… That made him feel powerful. Look ma! I can press this button, and I get a Diet Coke! I'm the President! https://t.co/V6Ww83KWxs
— Tomi T Ahonen Moved to Post, Spoutible & Mastodon (@tomiahonen) January 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/davidgura/status/1352331901290356742
What trashy asshole sets up a “Diet Coke” button with a Presidential seal on it in the oval office and expected a “Diet Coke” be delivered on a silver platter every time it’s pressed? Biden couldn’t get rid of it fast enough. 🤣
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) January 21, 2021
FAMILY GUY WASNT JOKING ABOUT THE "DIET COKE BUTTON"? pic.twitter.com/RvHtwyqWK8
— shoopdahoop22 🦋 (looking for baddud13) (@shoopdahoop25) January 21, 2021
you're telling me he could've had a button for literally anything and he chose Diet Coke pic.twitter.com/Q4AE9OKQQr
— amelia wedemeyer (@ameliadeew) January 21, 2021
Ngl having a Diet Coke button sounds tight https://t.co/Mv5O7bSmcB
— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) January 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/mekosoff/status/1352333482257735683
I would've paid so much money to get to be in the room for the conversation that I imagine went like:
BIDEN: ok what's next
STAFFER: setting up the Oval. Photos are all done. Do you want to keep the Diet Coke button?
BIDEN:
STAFFER:
BIDEN: the what in god's name button https://t.co/cDhkmqzjr5
— Emmy Bengtson (@EmmyA2) January 21, 2021
I lost 20 lbs as soon I stopped drinking 6 cans a day of Diet Coke, which I used to call the “Nectar of the Gods”. Soda is pure poison & of course our @POTUS got rid of any residual weakness from the Resolute Desk #BidenCalm https://t.co/H4yV9SKHFB
— Tara Dublin, Rock Star Author & Kamala Voter 🪷 (@taradublinrocks) January 21, 2021
never have i wanted to hear from carrie fisher more in my life pic.twitter.com/N9nj49JhCQ
— Rachel Leishman (@RachelLeishman) January 21, 2021
Biden should've kept this but instead of summoning a Diet Coke the button would call a random Trump family member and make a sad trombone sound https://t.co/HONMR24PQN
— shauna (@goldengateblond) January 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/1352326637237522433