Donald Trump has had a button that summons a glass of Diet Coke reinstated in the Oval Office. Reportedly one of the former President’s initial actions upon his return to the White House, the 78 year old famously utilised the button, discreetly situated within a wooden box on the Resolute Desk, to request his preferred beverage throughout his first term.
Joe Biden had removed the item during his tenure in 2021 after guests mistook it for a nuclear trigger. Trump, whose fondness for fast food, including KFC, Domino’s, and McDonald’s is well-documented, made headlines last year for participating in a shift at a McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania.
As typical with presidential transitions, the Oval Office underwent modifications to align with Trump’s tastes, with staff given approximately five hours to adapt the White House to his preferences. The Diet Coke button’s return was part of this overhaul, as noted by Mirror US.
Recalling a comment from 2017, Trump humorously remarked to journalists, “Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button.”
Despite changes, Trump, a father of five, opted to retain some artefacts featured by Biden, including a portrait of Benjamin Franklin and a bust of Martin Luther King Jr, reports the Mirror.
The leader, born in the Big Apple, made a controversial move by granting pardons to the individuals involved in the January 6th insurrection, leading to the immediate release of some from incarceration today. Kevin Loftus, who was handed a six-month sentence in December for attempting to join the Russian military to fight in Ukraine—a violation of his probation—expressed his intention to frame the presidential pardon, remarking, “I’m just a working man, dude. People like us don’t get presidential pardons.”
In a similar tone of surprise, attorney John Pierce, who defended several January 6 defendants, acknowledged he was taken aback by the extent of Trump’s pardons.
He stated: “He did not have to do this. He had a lot of opposition within his own party. I do think it showed a lot of courage by President Trump to pardon everybody, so we are obviously grateful for that.”
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