In recent weeks, we’ve seen plenty of tech CEOs and business leaders grovel at the feet of incoming President Donald Trump. Armed with many-zeroed checks, the removal of site-wide fact-checking, and the promise of “free expression,” i.e., whatever racist language folks feel like letting loose, it’s been a few banner weeks of ring-kissing and back-scratching to curry favor with the new-old boss.
Not to be outdone, even Coca-Cola decided to get in on the ass-kissing, with chairman and CEO James Quincey personally hand-delivering a commemorative bottle of Diet Coke, apparently the first ever given to an incoming president.
Now, lest you believe you can lump Coca-Cola in with the Apples, Amazons, and Metas of the world, this tradition goes back to George W Bush’s second term in 2005. Still, it’s not as if Trump and the beverage maker have been on the best of terms in recent years, with the brand releasing a statement in 2021 condemning the January 6th insurrection and Donald Trump calling for a Coca-Cola boycott (which he more than likely never supported because how can you cut off the hand of the beast who serves you when you hit your Diet Coke button). Coca-Cola likely won’t be pressed about who won the election in 2020, but a special visit to their biggest fan should likely keep them out of his hair.
