Trump Gets a Humiliating Reminder of His Escalator Tantrum
The president was greeted with a joke about last year’s escalator mishap as he returned to the U.N. General Assembly.
President Donald Trump has returned to the United Nations, where he faced the escalator that was the site of his notorious encounter a year ago.
After the president and first lady Melania Trump stepped onto the escalator on their way to his U.N. General Assembly speech last September, it came to a sudden halt, forcing them to walk up the steps. While there was no such stoppage this time around as the Trumps rode the escalator, a voice from the crowd shouted out a reminder of last year’s humiliation.
“Be careful with the stairs!” a reporter trolled Trump, according to an X video from journalist Aaron Rupar. The first lady then appeared to look back at the heckler and grin at the joke.
Melania Trump offered a smile after someone trolled the president at the U.N.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld, Getty Images
Donald Trump had called the 2025 incident “absolutely sabotage.”
“First, the escalator going up to the Main Speaking Floor came to a screeching halt. It stopped on a dime. It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Trump blamed U.N. workers for causing the escalator’s halt, and called for them to be arrested.
The Trumps were unamused by the 2025 escalator incident at the U.N.
Kylie Cooper/Reuters
He pointed to a Times of London article that said U.N. staffers joked about turning off the escalators and blaming it on U.S. funding cuts.
The United Nations then said in a statement that a videographer from Trump’s entourage caused the escalator issues after accidentally triggering the emergency stop.
The president used the embarrassing moment to call attention to the “great” physical shape he and the first lady are in.
The president and first lady were forced to walk up an U.N. escalator after it stopped in September 2025.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
“If the First Lady wasn’t in great shape, she would have fallen, but she’s in great shape,” he said during his speech to the 2025 assembly. “We’re both in good shape.”
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At this year’s assembly, Trump kicked off with a threat to Iran, saying he has a “big decision” to make: to strike a deal with Tehran or “annihilate the Islamic Republic.” “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” he asked.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
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