The Surprising Way Donald Trump Gets His Diet Coke

Pop quiz: What do former studio head Harvey Weinstein, former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, former President Bill Clinton, and President Donald Trump have in common? The answer could be one of a few things, but Chicago Tribune put them all in one basket for their shared love of the same diet soft drink. 

Diet Coke may not have been around for as long as its more full-bodied sibling Coca Cola, but it's picked up an impressive fan club just the same. The drink, which was invented in 1982 and used slogans that included: Just for the taste of it! (1986), You are what you drink (1998), Do what feels good (2002), and What life should be like (2008) (via Slogansmith), was so popular among the wealthy and powerful that for a time, the aspartame-filled soda was seen as a celebrity drink of choice. 

Those who love their Diet Coke know how to showcase their favorite drink too. The Chicago Tribune quotes US News and World Report as saying Weinstein once had a limousine blinged up with video screens and seat pockets that carried Diet Coke. But the president found a way to "trump" his fellow high-flying Diet Coke-loving fans.

When the president briefed reporters during his early days in the Oval Office, the Financial Times (FT) and the Associated Press (AP) both referred to an unusual looking contraption that, at least then, stood out on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office (via Time). FT's Demetri Sevastopulo says his eyes were drawn to what he described as "a little red button on a box that sits on his desk" and then proceeded to ask whether the gadget was the nuclear button. The reporter quotes Trump as saying, "No no, everyone thinks it is," before using the button to order a Diet Coke. 

The president then tells the reporter, "Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button." AP reporter Julie Pace also saw the president hit the red button that drew a similar response. "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," she wrote.

The red button may not look like the bell pulls that countless Downton Abbey fans are familiar with, but they appear to work the same way. If anything, the standout red button succeeded in catching the eye of the reporters because, after all, and as the Abbey's Dowager Countess (played by Maggie Smith) might say: "Nothing succeeds like excess" (via British Period Dramas).