President Joe Biden signs his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. 
President Joe Biden signs his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington.  AP
Herb Scribner
By Herb Scribner

President Joe Biden recently made a massive change to the White House — he eliminated the Diet Coke button that President Donald Trump had on the Resolute Desk.

What’s going on?

Political commentator Tom Newton Dunn tweeted a photo on Thursday of Biden at the Resolute Desk, which appeared to show the Diet Coke button (more on that in a second) no longer there.

  • “President Biden has removed the Diet Coke button,” Dunn wrote. “Eventually Trump pressed it, and a butler swiftly brought in a Diet Coke on a silver platter. It’s gone now.”

Context

In 2017, former President Donald Trump showed off the Diet Coke button to reporters.

  • “With the push of a red button placed on the Resolute Desk that presidents have used for decades, a White House butler soon arrived with a Coke for the president,” The Associated Press reported at the time.
  • “Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button,” Trump said before, according to Business Insider.
Related
A word to the president: You don’t get to good governance by executive order

Social media reaction

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The loss of the Diet Coke button inspired a number of reactions on social media.

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