Newsom jabs Trump over escalator incident at UN General Assembly

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: California Governor Gavin Newsom took a dig at President Donald Trump after an escalator at the United Nations General Assembly stopped working as the president stepped on it Tuesday, September 23.

The moment quickly went viral as users shared the incident across social media. In addition to the escalator glitch, Trump’s teleprompter also malfunctioned as he took the podium for his speech.

Gavin Newsom says 'real manly men' walk up escalators

Gavin Newsom’s office shared a screenshot of Donald Trump’s Truth Social post where he mentioned the malfunction of both the escalator and the teleprompter.

The POTUS wrote, "The teleprompter was broken and the escalator came to a sudden hault as we were ridding up to the podium, but both of those events probably made the speech more interesting than it would have been other wise."

"It is always an honor to speak at the United Nations, even if, their equipment is somewhat faulty," he added.

The California Governor’s office took a jab at the POTUS and posted on X in all caps, "Fat satan broke the UN escalator. Then couldn't read from the teleprompter 'Aceta aceedo aceta-menopose aceta-minion-fentanyl' (sad)."

Newsom also shared a clip of Fox News’ Jesse Watters suggesting a military strike on the UN over the escalator and teleprompter.

"They (UN) sabotaged and they could have hurt the first lady. Trump would have fallen would have got back up. Then they sabotaged the teleprompter. I mean this is an insurrection. What we need to do is either leave the UN or we need to bomb it."

Newsom shared the clip and wrote, "I only walk up escalators because that’s what REAL MANLY MEN do."

Meanwhile, the UN clarified that the escalator stopped abruptly because of a safety mechanism that may have been triggered by Trump’s videographer.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, explained that the videographer reached the top of the escalator just as the president and first lady stepped on at the bottom.

"At that moment (09:50 am), the escalator came to a stop," Dujarric said.  

Trump says 'bad teleprompter, bad escalator' is all he got from the UN

While addressing the UN General Assembly on September 23, Trump quipped that a bad teleprompter and a bad escalator were all he got from the United Nations.

The president began his speech at the headquarters in New York by pointing out that his teleprompter was not working.

"I don't mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working," he said, noting he was still happy to be in the General Assembly hall. "I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble," Trump added, in his first UN address since returning to the White House.

After a few minutes, Trump switched to reading from a printed copy of his speech.

Vice President JD Vance quipped about the incident, taking a jab at past leadership. "It's nice to have a president with a brain!" he said. In an X post, Vance added, "All kidding aside did everyone notice how despite the lack of a teleprompter, he delivered a clear, reasonable address on US foreign policy?"

During his speech, Trump also criticized the institution for failing to advance peace efforts and commented on the quality of its headquarters building.

"The UN has such tremendous potential. I've always said it — it has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it's not even coming close to living up to it," Trump said, as he also complained about the broken escalator at the New York headquarters.

He wrapped up his remarks by declaring, "A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter are all I got from the UN"