The UN’s Escalator, Stranding Trump, Emerges as Metaphor for the World Body’s Ineptitude

The world is abuzz about glitches plaguing President Trump’s visit to the UN, with a sputtering escalator emerging as symbolic of the farce. The trouble comes as Mr. Trump charges on X that — after 80 years — the assembly is “just a club for people to get together, talk, and have a good time.”On Monday, as Mr. Trump and the first lady ascended the escalator, it jerked to a halt. This followed a report in the Sunday Times about UN staffers heard “joking” that they might “turn off the escalators and elevators” so the president would have “to walk up the stairs.”The White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, tweeted the Times story following the mishap. “If someone at the UN,” she said, “intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately.”Mr. Trump ad-libbed about the malfunction in his remarks to the General Assembly. “All I got from the United Nations,” he said, “was an escalator that … stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen. But she’s in great shape.”President Trump speaks during the United Nations General Assembly at the UN’s New York headquarters on September 23, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesAs Mr. Trump spoke, his teleprompter fizzled. “These are two things I got from the United Nations,” he said to laughter, “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.” The moment invoked the start of his political career in 2015, when he made a smooth descent on the escalator at Trump Tower.The New York Sun leg at the UN, Benny Avni, raised the escalator being out of order to the UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, on September 11, 2024. He noted that despite the $2.1 billion “Capital Master Plan” for “rehabilitation” of the UN building, “the escalators seem to not work.”Mr. Dujarric explained that “efforts are being made to repair the escalator for quite some time” and, as he’s “lazy,” he’d like to use it “to go from the ground floor to the first,” too. He pledged to “check … how quickly it will be repaired.” Small comfort to the lazy, and to those slowed by age or disability.President Trump rides up an escalator at the United Nations headquarters, September 19, 2017. John Moore/Getty ImagesMr. Avni said that “there was a lot of money involved in rehabilitating this building” and asked if “a couple more million dollars would help.” Mr. Dujarric replied that he’s “not sure the escalators were refurbished.” On November 14, 2024, Mr. Avni asked for an update.“Like everything here,” Mr. Dujarric said with a sigh, “it’s a little old, it’s a little vintage, and hopefully they’ll be put back online soon.” Four days later, a China Central Television correspondent, Dezhi Xu, pointed out that the UN had been “fixing the escalators for, like, three months.”Mr. Dujarric said he was “done with escalator questions,” adding, “Welcome to New York City, Dezhi. I don’t know what to tell you.” Meanwhile, a few avenues west of Turtle Bay, Macy’s wooden escalators have hummed without incident for 100 years. The Jazz Age technology is somehow proving beyond the UN’s capacity to maintain today.President Trump addresses the United Nations on September 23, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesLate Tuesday night, Mr. Dujarric sent an explanation of “the escalator incident.” He said an unnamed videographer “who was traveling backwards up the” stairway ahead of the Trumps “may have inadvertently triggered” a “built-in safety mechanism.”New York building code requires “emergency-stop buttons … visibly and conspicuously located” at both ends of escalators and mandates that they “must be protected from accidental activation.” Because the red plungers “cannot be completely covered,” clear partial shields prevent inadvertent ignition without slowing access in an emergency.Mr. Avni confirms that the UN stairs have the required shields, which puts the onus back on Mr. Dujarric to explain how the videographer could have blundered into it, anyway. Whatever the reason for the mishap, it gives Mr. Trump a vivid example for his criticisms of the world body.The UN was either unable to keep basic machinery running or powerless to stop petty acts of sabotage against Mr. Trump, leader of its chief benefactor and host nation. Whatever the case, it calls into question whether the UN can fulfill the mission it was given in 1945 — or if, when it comes to solving global crises, all it has to offer is talk.

The UN’s Escalator, Stranding Trump, Emerges as Metaphor for the World Body’s Ineptitude

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