President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived at the United Nations on Tuesday. However, a simple process of entering the building that should otherwise be inconspicuous, became an awkward moment and then an international headline.
Just as the First Couple set foot on the escalator, it stopped on its track and the moment quickly became awkward. The First Day and President Trump then were forced to walk up on a stopped escalator to reach the summit venue.
It was very clear that neither the people nor their staff found it hilarious and were rather quite frustrated with the machine failure.
This also gave rise to several speculations from the White House.
However, Associated Press U.N. Correspondent Farnoush Amiri has reported that the embarrassing mishap was actually not a malfunction. Instead, one of the members of Trump’s team triggered the emergency stop when they ran ahead of the President on the escalation.
“A U.N. official said the UN understands that someone from the president’s party who ran ahead of him inadvertently triggered the stop mechanism on the escalator,” Amiri wrote on X.
A U.N. official said the UN understands that someone from the president’s party who ran ahead of him inadvertently triggered the stop mechanism on the escalator. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House was operating the teleprompter for Trump. https://t.co/DZwqyWtYVn
— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) September 23, 2025
However, the White House, even the pot stirrer, were quick to suggest foul play before someone could even investigate the cause behind the “malfunction”.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt even made a post on social media akin to “Karen asking for the manager” where she said that if someone at the United Nations had deliberately stopped the escalator as a form of humiliation, they should be “fired and investigated immediately.”
She then went ahead and shared a screenshot of a Sunday Times report that claimed that some of the U.N. staffers joked about shutting down the escalator and elevators to inconvenience the President.
However, Ms. Leavitt should know better, as the U.N. is not a kindergarten recess playground.
The moment at escalator had clearly rattled President Trump. It was evident with the way he started his speech, being overtly frustrated.
If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately.
The Times reported this on Sunday.👇 pic.twitter.com/NitsWbGYG0
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 23, 2025
Even during his fiery speech, he couldn’t help himself from making a reference to the broken escalator and a malfunctioning teleprompter. He presented these as examples of U.N. ‘s disrespect towards him and the United States of America.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle,” Trump told the world leaders. “If the First Lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen — but she’s in great shape. We’re both in great shape. These are two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much.”
Trump also used the moment to take a jab at the U.N. staff responsible for his speech setup. “I don’t mind making this speech without a teleprompter — because the teleprompter is not working,” he said. “I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.”
President Trump stuns the World by exposing them right to their face for not helping:
“Here’s the 2 things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter. Thank you very much”
TIME TO LEAVE THE UN
pic.twitter.com/0WH4HCb3ur— Pastor_Bob_Joyce (@Piayscooterist1) September 23, 2025
However, the point to be noted here is that the teleprompter was manned by his own staff, said one of the U.N officials.
So, in hindsight, everything that went wrong prior to Trump’s bizarre U.N. speech was due to his own staff.
The incident, however, fueled a round of online memes and social media debates. Critics were quick to poke fun at Trump’s temper over minor inconveniences. His supporters however argued that these mishaps were signs of lack of respect shown towards the President amongst his peers.
The teleprompter turns out, is his own people are in charge of that(absolutely nothing to do with the UN staff. @realDonaldTrump people either cannot tell his fragile ego, or they don’t want to hear his anger (so the blame others) @PressSec saying what she said to appease him. https://t.co/TqtJ7W7VjN
— KayLee 🇨🇦🌻🫶🏼 (@KarrieLee10) September 24, 2025
Whether the escalator stop and malfunctioning of the teleprompter were innocent mistakes or intentional pranks, these would be added as another flashpoint in Trump’s battle with global institutions on the international stage.
