Trump had a red “Diet Coke” button.

Literally, Trump would push the button and a butler would arrive with the Coke on a silver platter. We don’t mean the cliche, we mean it would be served on a silver platter. If you worked with a man who believed he should have such a button, wouldn’t you have asked for a button to sedate you every time it happened? People are sedated for painful surgery, why not sedation for equally painful psychological trauma? Who wouldn’t near die of embarrassment? Seeing a human being diminished to answering a red button for Diet Coke?

It all happened, according to Salon through Rawstory:

When @ShippersUnbound [Tim Shipman] and I interviewed Donald Trump in 2019, we became fascinated by what the little red button did,” Dunn tweeted. “Eventually Trump pressed it, and a butler swiftly brought in a Diet Coke on a silver platter. It’s gone now.”

No shit? It was probably ripped out of the socket with pliers or pounded into the desk with a mallet by the guy who carried the silver platter. Too bad, because according to Rawstory, the button has been there a while:

According to the Associated Press, the button has been a fixture “on the Resolute Desk that presidents have used for decades,” though not for summoning diet soda. The fact that Trump appropriated for it for such use is, frankly, unsurprising. Its existence is a reminder for some of the most laughable parts of Trump’s personality.

Right.

Sure, one can see the benefits of having a red button. It would be useful if one used it as a message, “Send the Chief of Staff please, something is rather urgent.” Or used just to make a phone call. Because up until Trump, nearly every phone call made by the president had someone take notes during the call and be present as a witness. The president’s words constitute policy, it is important. Trump is not important, nor did he use the red button for an important purpose. We suspect it would be difficult to think of an important endeavor Trump made as president, other than himself, and thus the red button, he endeavored to keep himself happy.

It goes to prove that Trump will use whatever means available for the most self-indulgent purposes. Does anyone here believe that they wouldn’t find it to be somewhat of a “presidential privilege” to have a small refrigerator right near the desk with a stash of whatever one wants? To get up and get whatever one wants for oneself! Like a normal person? We are serious, wouldn’t we all smile just a little and think, “Now this is a nice small privilege. I can have this here, stuffed with my favorite shit, to get whenever I need, and no one’s gonna complain.”

Anything beyond that is humiliating both for the person ordering it – unknowingly – and the person rushing in to keep the man happen, very much aware of his humiliation.

The essay in the Rawstory article mocks Trump’s tastelessness and somewhat “low class” favorite, the “Diet Coke.” Fck that. We drink a lot of Diet Coke ourselves but that certainly isn’t the point. The point is there are far worse things to have twelve times a day and it’s a stressful job. The Rawstory essay makes it akin to Trump ordering fast food, McDonalds, Dominoes, etc. for the Clemson Tigers. Wrong. They are totally different.

The fast-food thing was absolutely unacceptable as a matter of respect, classiness, protocol, and rings racism.

No, when you invite any guest over for dinner to honor them, no matter who the fck you are, you don’t have fast food there. You have some salmon fillets, some shrimp,  and some prime rib, something nice that no one, especially young athletes who are still amateurs, get very often. If Trump wants Diet Coke while hanging in his office that isn’t at all the same thing. Ridiculous.

The symbolism begins and ends with the self-indulgence, laziness, and – as the essay properly notes – the belief that rules don’t apply to him:

“Trump seemed to believe that rules, of any sort, don’t apply to him,” she wrote via email. “That guided his food and beverage choices — from a dozen Diet Cokes a day to well-done steak with ketchup to copious fast food — and much of his presidency.”

If someone must have the Diet Coke served, then the minimum, the bare minimum, is an intercom to nicely ask and say, “please.” Even that is unacceptable. Someone should stand up and walk over to where it is kept and grab it for oneself. Period. A button is so fcking demeaning that it’s embarrassing to the nation as a whole.

Good god it’s nice to have a true class act back in the White House. Thinking about Trump humiliating all of us as a nation can sting up and down one’s spine. We need some sedation and we weren’t even there.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak