Trump roasts UN over broken escalator and teleprompter, says it made 'speech more interesting'

'Whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble' Trump said during his speech at the UN
UPDATED SEP 24, 2025
President Donald Trump revisited technical glitches at the United Nations following his speech (Getty Images)
President Donald Trump revisited technical glitches at the United Nations following his speech (Getty Images)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: President Donald Trump revisited the technical glitches at the United Nations after his General Assembly speech, doubling down on his remarks about a broken teleprompter and a stalled escalator.

Even after meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Trump highlighted the incidents in a Truth Social post, keeping the focus on the equipment mishaps.



 

Donald Trump mocks UN equipment in follow-up messages

Trump addressed the malfunctions in his post-speech updates.

“It was a great honor to speak before the United Nations. I believe the speech was very well received,” he wrote on Truth Social, noting his focus on energy and immigration.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City. World leaders convened for the 80th Session of UNGA, with this year’s theme for the annual global meeting being “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump speaks during the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

“I hope everybody gets to watch it,” he continued. “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 otherwise.”

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



 

During the speech, he had joked, “These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” and later quipped, “If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape,” Trump said.

Trump praises UN potential despite earlier criticism

Trump softened his tone when sitting with Antonio Guterres.

“It’s always an honor to be here. We’ve done this before, and this was a little more exciting because of the escalator, the teleprompter — these things happen. But I will tell you that your people have treated us with great respect. Our country is behind the United Nations 100 percent,” Trump said.



 

“I think the potential of the United Nations is incredible, really incredible. It can do so much, so I’m behind it,” he continued. “I may disagree with it sometimes, but I am so behind it, because I think the potential for peace for this institution is so great. So, I just want to thank you for treating us so warmly,” Trump added.

Trump calls climate change ‘the greatest con job’ in UN speech

Trump also criticised climate change policies.

“This climate change, it's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” he said.

“Climate change, no matter what happens, you're involved in that,” he added. “No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” Trump said.



 

Trump also blasted Asian countries and accused them of dropping garbage in the ocean that then makes its way to the US shores.

“They dump much of their garbage right into the ocean. And over about a one-week and two-week journey. It flows right past Los Angeles," he said.

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