Donald Trump struggled to cope with the loss of his beloved Diet Coke button after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. As President he would press the red button installed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office to summon up to 12 cans a day. The former president “bitterly retreated to Palm Beach,” as he attempted to come to terms with being a loser.
The riveting details of a downcast Trump, “unmoored and unsettled” post presidency, are detailed in a new book out next month by Politico correspondent Meridith McGraw. In an early copy leaked to the Daily Mail, McGraw writes about Trump’s transition that left him looking like a “deflated Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.” Trump in Exile is slated for release on Aug. 6.
During his final Air Force One flight from D.C. to Mar-a-Largo, Trump aide Jason Miller attempted to comfort the “bewildered and crestfallen” former president by saying “You’re not going anywhere. You’re still the big dog.”
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According to McGraw, the former president was “unsure of how to fill his days” after being banished to Mar-a-Lago by the American public. At one point, Trump tried summoning a press pool, only to be reminded that privilege belongs solely to sitting presidents. Not even Fox wanted him on air anymore.
“Everyone in Washington thought Trump ought to stay there for good,” she writes.
A White House staff member from the presidential food service pours a Diet Coke for U.S. President Donald Trump—who then uses it to conduct a toast.
REUTERS/Carlos BarriaIn Palm Beach, however, hundreds of Trump supporters lined the streets to Mar-a-Lago, cheering on the former president.
“Trump was wrapped in a world inside the walls of Mar-a-Lago that reinforced everything that Trump believed about himself,” McGraw writes.
He was “comforted by his daily routine of morning golf and nightly applause.”
Aides and staff encouraged the former president to stop by weddings at the Florida resort where guests would give him standing ovations. And eventually, Trump expanded his presence on the property, DJing public events using a private Spotify account.
Trump quickly became commander-in-chief of his Floridian Elba and had his staff bring a Resolute Desk replica into his Mar-a-Lago office, behind which he planned his comeback with a sweeping second-term agenda.
But in early 2021 another run at the White House seemed “as likely as taking a rocket ship across the universe.” The book reveals the remarkable juxtaposition to his current position. On Thursday, Trump, after an attempted assassination only five days earlier, became the Republican party’s official nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
The former president’s reascension into the good graces of the GOP began in February 2021, during his return to CPAC. Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, raked in $3 million after his speech. The PAC raised a total of $108,720,908 during the 2021-2022 election cycle.
According to McGraw, the former president’s fundraising prowess “showcased Trump’s total dominance of the party,” the same party she described as “ready to break free of the MAGA movement” in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6.
Trump leveraged his power through endorsement. The former president claimed his stamp of approval was crucial to GOP candidates seeking election and re-election. Those without his support were “punished” and became the target of Trumpian online trolling.
Hours before the 2022 midterm election polls closed, the former president said if Republicans did well, he should “get all the credit.” If they lost, he “should not be blamed at all.”
The “Red Wave,” Trump promised fell short, with many of the candidates he endorsed losing races Republicans were projected to win. Yet, his endorsement remained prime political currency going into the 2024 state primaries in June, where he again suffered a string of defeats.
MAGA world loyalty, however, shows no signs of waning. After surviving the assassination attempt last Saturday, his support has strengthened. As the polls show him edging ahead in the swing states, his reelection is not as unlikely as it once seemed when he was first in exile. And should he win, he can once again have his Diet Coke on demand.
