Trump allegedly asked his Coke guy how to stay in office

We all have people we turn to for advice in times of need: sometimes it’s a trusted friend or loved one or a mentor whose wisdom you can count on when the world seems frightening and unpredictable. If you’re former President Donald Trump, it’s your Coke guy.

As long as New York Times claims reporter Maggie Haberman in her forthcoming book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, Struggling with his November 2020 election loss, the former president vacillated between self-pitying depression and dogged defiance. In an exclusive excerpt obtained by CNN on Monday, Haberman describes how Trump went from consoling junior staff and thinking aloud, “I thought we had it,” to a riotous refusal to accept his defeat that has defined the past few years.

“We’re never going,” Trump reportedly said to an aide. “How can you leave when you’ve won an election?” He reportedly shared a similar sentiment to Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.

That in itself is nothing new. Trump had said so publicly during a press conference in September, and reports of his intention to remain in the White House after the defeat surfaced in the press almost immediately after Election Day. What is new, however, is Haberman’s account that among those whom Trump allegedly sought for advice on exactly how to maintain his stranglehold on the executive branch were not only political advisers and pundits, but also the White House valet who was tasked with to bring him his Diet Coke.

As has been well documented, Diet Coke occupies an almost mythical place in the former President’s everyday life, with claims that he drank up to 12 cans a day, often delivered by a White House butler who Trump responded to his need for refreshments alerted him by pressing a special red emergency button on his Oval Office phone (President Joe Biden has since had removed the button). So it’s perhaps understandable that in Trump’s overly aerated brain, the person who brought To him, the sweet sweet caffeine syrup would be as much a source of wisdom as the low-calorie pop itself. Or maybe it’s just a guy who was so panicked and out of his element in the days following his campaign run that he was desperate for solace from anyone was looking for – literally anyone! – who would speak to him at the push of a button.

While we don’t know what the Diet Coke guy might have said to Trump on his way to the door, it certainly seems safe to say however Advice Trump has actually solicited in office these past few days hasn’t worked out that well for anyone.