UN Summit Turns into a Laughing Stock as Donald Trump’s Escalator Stunt, Broken Teleprompter, and Macron’s Traffic Tantrum Steal the Show
- US President Donald Trump’s escalator moment at the UN summit has gone viral, with the lift stopping mid-ascent as he and Melania stepped on
- Mr Trump’s speech was also marred by a teleprompter failure, which he joked was a ‘bad teleprompter’ from the UN
- French President Emmanuel Macron was left stranded in the street due to Mr Trump’s motorcade, leading to a hilarious phone call between the two leaders
The United Nations summit in New York has turned into a laughing stock after a series of embarrassing incidents involving US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. The most viral moment came when an escalator stopped mid-ascent as Mr Trump and his wife Melania stepped on, leaving them stranded.
Footage shows Ms Trump stepping onto the escalator with Mr Trump following closely behind. No sooner had the US President set foot on the step than the escalator jolted to a halt. After a moment of confusion, the Trumps began walking up the motionless escalator, with Mr Trump later joking about the incident in his speech.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle,” he said. “If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would’ve fallen. But she’s in great shape. We’re both in good shape, we both stood.”
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was not amused, suggesting that UN staff may have intentionally stopped the escalator. “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,” she said.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric later revealed that a readout of the escalator’s central processing unit indicated it had stopped due to a built-in safety mechanism triggered by Mr Trump’s videographer, who was travelling backwards up the escalator to capture the President’s arrival.
Mr Trump’s speech was also marred by a teleprompter failure, which he joked was a ‘bad teleprompter’ from the UN. “I don’t mind making the speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working,” he said. However, a UN official later revealed that the White House had operated its own teleprompter, and that the UN’s teleprompter was working perfectly.
In another embarrassing incident, French President Emmanuel Macron was left stranded in the street due to Mr Trump’s motorcade. Mr Macron’s exchange with a police officer was filmed and shared widely on social media, with the French President jokingly trying to negotiate his way across the street.
“If you don’t see it, let me cross. I negotiate with you,” Mr Macron said, before ringing Mr Trump on the phone. “How are you? Guess what – I’m waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you,” he told Mr Trump, before trying to steer the conversation to a meeting about the situation in Gaza.