Donald Trump is looking to head back to the White House for another four years if he wins the 2024 US presidential election.
And with such a victory, we could see the return of the former The Apprentice presenter’s famous call button that brought him a very particular drink whenever he wanted it.
But before he can think about reinstalling the button, Trump will have to beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the election, which takes place today (5 November).
It is the closest presidential race in living memory and could go any which way due to the margin of error involved in polling, which has regularly tied Trump and Harris in the key states they need to win in order to secure the presidency.
Given a few thousand ballots could decide the future of US politics, it may take some time to get a result. And even then, it’ll be months before either Trump or Harris officially become the new president of the United States (POTUS).
And while the winner of the election is given official access to the ‘nuclear football’ and its ‘biscuit’, on the less serious side of the presidential spectrum is the ability to get what they want, when they want it.
From 2017 until 2021, Trump – who is now 78 – was able to request staff in the White House to bring him his most favourite drink, whether it was 2am or 2pm.
The red button, which is reportedly built in to a stained-wood box with a golden seal around it (talk about fancy), was used by Trump to quench his thirst.
Donald Trump’s desk during his presidency, along with the famous call button (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In particular, if he ever pressed it, an ice cold Diet Coke would be brought to him by a member of the White House staff.
The button is in fact a permanent fixture in the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk but has been used by presidents for different functions in different terms in office.
Back in the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson had for buttons in the office: one for coffee, tea, Coca-Cola and Fresca.
Reports from Trump’s presidency say he used the button to pull pranks on guests, with some being worried it was a nuclear button. Trump even told one reporter that people ‘get a little nervous when I press it’.
When Joe Biden beat Trump in the 2020 general election, one of his first acts as president after his inauguration in January 2021 was to remove the famous Diet Coke button.
Trump behind the Oval Office desk, with the call button visible (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
British journalist Tom Newton Dunn shared an image from his interview with Trump in 2019 compared to the desk once Biden sat behind it, with the red call button nowhere to be seen.
“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,” Newton Dunn posted to X (formerly Twitter).
Biden eventually brought the button back but without revealing what its function was under his administration.
It remains to be seen if Trump would bring it back if he wins again. But given how much he clearly loves the tipple, we’d be shocked if it doesn’t return with the MAGA frontman.