fb-pixelSix under-the-radar changes from the Trump administration to Biden’s - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Six under-the-radar changes from the Trump administration to Biden’s

The Oval Office of the White House was newly redecorated for the first day of President Biden's administration on Wednesday.Alex Brandon/Associated Press

President Biden was sworn into office Wednesday, and it’s already clear his administration represents a major departure from Donald Trump’s when it comes to policy and procedure.

But there are also a number of little-noticed changes that are taking place under Biden, from his Oval Office décor to dogs once again roaming the halls.

Here are a few noteworthy under-the-radar changes taking place.

The Oval Office

Presidents traditionally make changes to the office when they arrive, adding photos of their families and friends and changing the decorations to fit their tastes.

When Biden entered the Oval Office Wednesday, the portrait of Andrew Jackson that Trump had hanging was no longer up, according to The Washington Post, and a painting of Benjamin Franklin was added. Also hanging in Biden’s office are paintings of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln.

Advertisement



The White House contact form

The contact form on the official White House website in which anyone can submit questions or comments now has the option for people to add their gender pronouns.

GLAAD, an organization that aims to counter discrimination against LGBTQ people in media, noted the change on Biden’s first day in office.

Trump’s Diet Coke button

A button on the Resolute Desk that Trump reportedly used to summon his staff to bring him Diet Cokes is apparently no longer.

Tom Newton Dunn, a London journalist, said on Twitter that when he and Tim Shipman of The Sunday Times interviewed Trump in 2019 in the Oval Office, Trump pressed a little red button “and a butler swiftly brought in a Diet Coke on a silver platter.”

In photos of Biden signing executive orders at the desk, it appeared the button had been removed.

A message in the White House website code

Some tech-savvy, eagle-eyed Twitter users spied a hidden message in the code of the White House website.

A line in the site’s code reads: “If you’re reading this, we need your help building back better,” with a link to the application page for the United States Digital Service. The code isn’t visible by accessing whitehouse.gov, but could be seen at the backend in the source code.

Advertisement



Pets are back in the White House

The Bidens are bringing their two German shepherds, Champ and Major, to the White House, bringing the four-year period of no presidential pets to an end.

Major is also a shelter dog, marking the first time such a pet will live in the White House.

Trump was the first president not to have a pet in decades.

President Biden adopted a German shepherd named Major from the Delaware Humane Association in 2018.Delaware Humane Association

So are copies of The New York Times and The Washington Post

Print subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post are back at the White House after they were halted under Trump, Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs said on Twitter.

In October 2019, Jacobs said the White House stopped receiving newspapers from the Times and the Post, but continued its online subscription to the Post. The papers were among those that Trump repeatedly attacked as “fake,” among other insults, when a negative story was written about him.



Amanda Kaufman can be reached at amanda.kaufman@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandakauf1.