JD Vance reveals 'nuclear' fear after Donald Trump pressed Oval Office red button in front of him

JD Vance recalled a time with President Trump that left him so unnerved he thought he might have set off a nuclear war.

Not long after Donald Trump dropped a NSFW word while chatting to reporters about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on Tuesday (24 June), Vice President Vance gave a televised hometown speech at a Republican dinner in Ohio.

And while he himself made a rude gesture to the audience, Vance also had people in stitches with a President Trump story time...

While in the Oval Office, the duo were on a call with a foreign leader when, mid-way through, Trump put them on mute.

Vance remembered: "[Trump] says to me: ‘This isn’t going very well,’ and he presses the red button.

"My eyes get really big and I’m like, ‘Mr President, what just happened?’ He looks at me and he goes: 'Nuclear'."

Vance laughed and continued: “Two minutes later a guy walks in with a Diet Coke and Trump looks at me and says, 'It wasn’t nuclear, it was a Diet Coke button'."

Responding to the clip on Instagram, one person commented: "Trump's sense of humor is unmatched," as a second agreed: "Awesome prank."

"Honestly, if you don't use the red button prank, what are you even doing in that oval office?" a third social media user questioned, as a fourth observed: "Has to be pretty entertaining to work with this president!"

History of the Oval Office red button

The red button sits on the famous Resolute Desk - sometimes known as the Hayes Desk - which has been a regular feature of the White House since Queen Victoria gave it to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880.

Various presidents have since used the red button, which is reportedly built into a stained-wood box with a golden seal around it.

From 2017 until 2021, Trump was able to request staff in the White House to bring him his favorite drink, no matter the time of day.

Of course, he brought it back as soon as he became president for the second time earlier this year.

Elsewhere, according to business guru Richard Branson, President Barack Obama repurposed it to order tea for his White House guests.

Back in the 1960s, however, President Lyndon B. Johnson had four buttons in the office: one for coffee, tea, Coca-Cola and Fresca.

When Joe Biden beat Trump in the 2020 general election, one of his first acts as president after his inauguration in January 2021 was to remove the famous Diet Coke button.

Biden eventually brought the button back - but without revealing what its function was under his administration.

TV presenter James Corden claimed that Biden had used it as an 'ice cream button.'

What would you use the big red button for?