--- title: Donald Trump: Coke Button in Oval Office Summons a Butler description: President Trump has a little red box on his desk in the Oval Office that people think resembles the nuclear button. canonical: https://time.com/4758059/donald-trump-coke-nuclear-button/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-27T20:38:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:21.738Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Presses a Button in the Oval Office to Get a Coke og:description: It's on the Resolute Desk. og:url: https://time.com/4758059/donald-trump-coke-nuclear-button/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6810a00126fe220/6988c3c60a4a2271c59cdceb/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Speaks With German Chancellor Angela Merkel On The Telephone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Presses a Button in the Oval Office to Get a Coke twitter:description: It's on the Resolute Desk. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6810a00126fe220/6988c3c60a4a2271c59cdceb/trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Presses a Button in the Oval Office to Get a Coke > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=43f5fdf1-6958-40ab-abc7-e84be053f1b7&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump on Nuclear Weapons [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump on Nuclear Weapons](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1PwxZnjP.m3u8) (2:43)  _Published 2017-08-24. Donald Trump on Nuclear Weapons_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 27, 2017 8:38 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 28, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Drew Angerer—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 27, 2017 8:38 PM UTC [President Trump](http://time.com/4756751/donald-trump-white-house-correspondents-dinner/) has a button on his desk in the Oval Office that summons a butler to bring him a Coke. In two recent interviews, Trump showed off the button. “Sitting across from [Donald Trump](http://time.com/money/4744620/trump-tower-fifth-avenue-retail/) in the[ Oval Office, ](http://time.com/4748290/sarah-palin-kid-rock-ted-nugent-donald-trump-photo/)my eyes are drawn to a little red button on a box that sits on his desk,” [The Financial Times’ Demetri Sevastopulo](https://www.ft.com/content/548baa3a-2a00-11e7-9ec8-168383da43b7) writes. Sevastopulo jokingly asked Trump if this was the nuclear button. “No no, everyone thinks it is,” Sevastopulo says Trump responds, and then uses the button to order a Diet Coke. “Everyone does get a little nervous when I press that button,” Trump tells Sevastopulo. This red button was also noticed by Associated Press reporter Julie Pace when she interviewed Trump in the Oval Office about his first 100 days in the White House. “With the push of a red button placed on the Resolute Desk that presidents have used for decades,” [Pace writes, ](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/205ad54dc72e4ab69b3a214c96eeb9ce/trumps-100-days-rattled-establishment-some-surprises)“a White House butler soon arrived with a Coke for the president.” “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert [recently mocked](http://mashable.com/2017/04/27/stephen-colbert-trump-coke-button/#u.rmlSxddkqu) the button, saying it turns the White House into something like “a an eight year old’s drawing of a treehouse.” ## Transcript As far as nuclear is concerned, this country, us we need a shield because Russia is unstable. We need a [ UNKNOWN ] defence shield. Donald Trump has long been fascinated by the power of nuclear weapons. In one of his first major interviews on politics, Trump told a reporter from the Washington Post in 1984, that his dream was to become the lead negotiator for the U. S. on a nuclear arms deal with the Soviets. It would take an hour and a half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles, he said. I think I know most of it anyway. Trump usually credits that knowledge to his Uncle John, a physicist at MIT. Having nuclear, my uncle was a great professor in scientist and engineer Dr. John Trump at MIT. Good genes very good genes okay? But to critics his understanding is thin enough to be a serious concern. At a 2015 debate in the Republican Primary, Trump seemed stumped by the concept of the nuclear triad, the defense system in which the US maintains missiles that can be fired from land, sea, or air. That is the single biggest problem that our country faces. Of the three legs of the triad though, do you have a priority. Do you want to go to Senator Rubio after that? To me, nuclear, the power, the devastation is very important to me. And he's made some provocative comments about nuclear weapons over the years. Let me talk about some of the issues. One is North Korea and you say that you, as President, would be willing to launch a pre- emptive strike against North Korea's nuclear capability. First, I'd negotiate. I would negotiate like crazy and I'd make sure we tried to get the best deal possible. And can you tell the Middle East we're not using any nuclear weapons? I would never say that. I would never take any of my cards off the table. How about Europe? We won't use them in Europe. I'm not going to take it off the table. You might use it in Europe? No. I don't think but I'm not taking-- Well just say it. I'm never going to use a nuclear weapon. I. In Europe. I am not taking cards off the table. I'm not gonna use nukes- Okay. But I'm not taking any cards- Okay, so trouble is the- During the campaign, both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama argue that he shouldn't be trusted with the nuclear arsenal. A man you can bait with a tweet, is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. [ APPLAUSE ] Apparently, his campaign has taken away his Twitter. If somebody can't handle a Twitter account, they can't handle the nuclear code. But now that Trump is president, he's continued making provocative comments about nuclear war. North Korea. Best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. 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