Donald Trump was greeted at the UN General Assembly with a broken escalator and a faulty teleprompter – annoyances he turned into ammunition to tear into the United Nations.
The president appeared at the UN’s headquarters in in Manhattan Tuesday morning with Melania Trump – dressed in a cream suit and caramel top – at his side.
He thanked reporters and headed toward an escalator, followed by his entourage, ahead of his big speech. A moment later, he was following the first lady – in her tall heels – up the steps as the escalator had stopped.
Once the president got to the podium in the assembly hall, he realized the teleprompter was broken.
‘I can only say whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,’ he chuckled.
He had already planned to criticize the international body, but the mishaps provided him fresh fodder.
‘All I got from the United Nations was an escalator on the way up that stopped in the middle,’ Trump said. ‘If the first lady wasn’t in great shape, she would’ve fallen.’
The president, again, boasted about the many conflicts he claims he’s put an end to – and blasted the UN for not trying to help with any of them, even as Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s campaign in Gaza continue without any signs of a ceasefire on the horizon.
Donald Trump used a broken teleprompter and a broken escalator to argue how useless the United Nations is at the General Assembly in Manhattan today
The president and Melania Trump board an escalator at the UN that later breaks
‘I ended seven wars, dealt with leaders of each country, and never even received a call from the UN offering to help in finalizing the deal,’ Trump complained.
‘The United Nations wasn’t there for us. They weren’t there. I thought of it after the fact, not during these negotiations…what is the purpose of the UN? It’s not even coming close to living up to that potential,’ he said.
‘These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,’ Trump added.
The president suggested that the grudge was several decades long.
‘Many years ago, a very successful real estate developer in New York known as Donald J. Trump, I bid on the renovation and rebuilding of this very United Nations complex,’ Trump said. ‘I said at the time that I would do it for $500 million.’
‘They decided to go another direction that produced a far inferior product,’ the president said.
Trump said he had warned the UN about cost overruns, and those indeed happened.
‘As far as I’m concerned, frankly, looking at the building and getting stuck in the escalator, they still haven’t finished the job,’ Trump said.
‘Unfortunately, many things in the United Nations are happening just like that, but on an even – much bigger scale,’ the president added.
The First Lady sits in the audience to watch her husband’s speech Tuesday morning
Trump and the First Lady arrive at UN headquarters Tuesday morning in Manhattan followed by UN Ambassador Mike Waltz, who was finally confirmed by the US Senate last week
But it wasn’t just the UN that felt the wrath as Trump used his platform in front of world leaders to attack their countries.
‘I’m really good at this stuff,’ the president quipped before warning: ‘Your countries are going to hell.’
He was referencing the increased focus on green energy and the hesitation – especially from European nations – to stymie mass migration to their countries.
‘I’ve been right about everything,’ Trump insisted. ‘And I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the green energy scam your country is going to fail. If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before, that you have nothing in common with, your country is going to fail.
‘I’m the President of the United States, but I worry about Europe. I love Europe, I love the people of Europe.’
Trump appeared more hesitant to tear into his Brazilian counterpart, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The two crossed paths at the UN on Tuesday after Lula delivered remarks to the General Assembly body just ahead of Trump’s speech.
Trump said he will meet with the Brazilian leader next week and claims they embraced. Then just minutes later, the president had harsh words for him because of Brazil ‘taking advantage’ of the US under previous administrations.
‘Brazil now faces major tariffs in response to its unprecedented efforts to interfere in the rights and freedoms of our American citizens and others with censorship, repression, weaponization, judicial corruption and targeting of political critics of the United States,’ Trump said.
He admitted: ‘I have a little problem saying this, because I must tell you, I was walking in and the leader of Brazil was walking out. I saw him and he saw me, and we embraced. And then I’m saying, can you believe I’m going to be saying this in just two minutes?’
Trump then announced that he would be meeting with Lula next week and said they had ‘great chemistry’ in their few seconds of meeting between their speeches.
‘He seemed like a very nice man,’ Trump said. ‘Actually, he liked me, I liked him.’
‘And I only do business with people I like. When I don’t like them, I don’t like them. But we had, at least for about 39 seconds, we had excellent chemistry. It’s a good sign,’ he said.
Trump said he and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (pictured) will meet next week after they two ran into each other between their remarks at the event
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump would take the ‘globalists’ to task in his remarks before the UN.
He will ‘touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,’ Leavitt said.
At the UN, Trump also offered a helping hand.
‘I’ve come here today to offer the hand of American leadership and friendship to any nation in this assembly that is willing to join us in forging a safer, more prosperous world,’ the president said. ‘And it’s a world that we’ll be much happier with, a dramatically better future is within our reach.’
‘But to get there, we must reject the failed approaches of the past and work together to confront some of the greatest threats in history,’ Trump said.
Trump’s MAGA movement has been anti-globalist in nature, with the President and his ‘America First’ allies arguing that the global ‘elites’ have benefited from trade agreements, which have wiped out US manufacturing jobs.
The more conspiracy-minded members of the MAGA movement, such as adherents to QAnon, believe a global cabal created a sex trafficking ring of minors and that prominent Democratic politicians are involved.
The president and his MAGA allies have also condemned the UN for being too anti-Israel.
Trump’s teleprompter wasn’t working when he arrived Tuesday morning to deliver his address
Ahead of the General Assembly, the State Department refused a visa for Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and his delegation, on the grounds of national security.
Abbas will appear at the event in a pre-recorded message virtually.
On Monday, France was the latest Western nation to back Palestinian statehood, with President Emmanuel Macron pushing that the two-state solution would pave the way to end the current conflict in Gaza.
Filling the US ambassador’s job at the UN also hasn’t been a top priority for the administration.
Trump had originally appointed GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as his ambassador to the UN after the post was previously occupied by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and former US ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft during his first term.
Stefanik criticized ‘antisemitic rot’ growing in the UN during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.
In late March, with a slim majority in the House, Trump pulled Stefanik’s nomination, replacing her in May with his former national security adviser, Michael Waltz, who was ousted from the top National Security Council post after his role in Signalgate.
Waltz took the fall for adding the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal group of top advisers discussing attacks on Houthi rebels.
The Senate finally confirmed Waltz for the UN ambassadorship last week – just in time for this week’s General Assembly.
Trump hasn’t had the easiest time in front of the UN in past years.
In 2018, he was laughed at when his General Assembly address was braggadocios in nature.
The president proclaimed that ‘in less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.’
He then ad-libbed, ‘So true.’
That made the audience chuckle.
‘Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK,’ Trump answered the laughter.
At a press conference later in the day, the president insisted that the world leaders weren’t jeering at him.
‘They weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing with me. We had fun,’ he told reporters. ‘That was not laughing at me.’
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