That's the headline at the London Times.
The investigation comes after The Sunday Times reported that UN workers joked about turning off an escalator before the general assembly meeting. On Tuesday, an escalator broke down as Melania Trump, the first lady, stepped onto it.
It was one of several glitches that raised suspicions about whether Trump was targeted by people inside the institution he has so strongly criticised.
From that internal link, which goes to a Times article published 2 days before Trump's visit: "To mark Trump’s arrival, UN staff members have joked that they may turn off the escalators and elevators and simply tell him they ran out of money, so he has to walk up the stairs."
At least the inside job (if any) is at the clown show level.
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65 comments:
Bozo is offended by your last sentence. At least he was a professional.
Two instances are unlikely coincidence.
Stopping an escalator 1/2 way up is a perfect set up for an assassination
This is no joke. There have been attempts on Trump's life, and the escalators stopping made him a stationary target at a known time at a known location. That's not funny.
These idiotic moves, would have done Biden in. Not Trump.
"We ran out of money" translated from UN speak is "the USA is withholding payments until they figure out what we are doing with their taxpayer dollars we were trusted with." As a negotiating tactic this was a very poor choice of actions coordinated and intended to injure or cause embarrassment to Trump. We should return that exact same level of respect and good faith in our subsequent actions toward the UN.
I half expected to see D-Day riding his motorcycle down the frozen escalator as the UN resembles nothing so much as the Delta Tau Chi fraternity from Animal House.
Two instances are unlikely coincidence.
True but the total was at least three because his microphone also started "glitching" unexpectedly. The elevators might have, as threatened on Sunday, also failed but we won't know unless someone actually reports on it.
I am sickened by leftists celebrating this as well, which could have had disastrous consequences. It is impossible to despise the media enough for their sneering coverage of this.
According to reports this morning, it appears the white house videographer accidentally pushed the stop button upon reaching the top.
So, not the UN, but an inside job! The videographers are secretly conspiring against him.
There has been substantial progress towards something wicked.
"True but the total was at least three because his microphone also started "glitching" unexpectedly."
There's a 4th one too. The feed of the president's speech at one point intermittently included one of the translators.
From the article: "... the main UN audio feed to TV news channels switched over to a foreign language translation towards the end of his speech, obscuring some of his words."
We listened to the whole speech and heard that. It was a problem for a few minutes. Very annoying.
If this was deliberate, then it shows a greater degree of competence than I thought any UN employee would have.
Several glitches reported... without evidence.
What Michael said is why it is proper for the Secret Service to investigate. The ultimate result looks like a clown show, but the reality is if it was done intentionally, then they were a step away from creating a much more serious incident. Regardless, if intentional; the people involved should have zero access to operate equipment with such important dignitaries around. Regardless of your thoughts on Trump and if you care at all about the purpose of the UN; then such people shouldn't have jobs there. Simple substitution; would this be appropriate to do to Maduro? Was it done to Macron as well? Are these people helping to create a stage where the world can negotiate peaceful resolutions; or are they creating a situation that causes disagreement and distrust?
Noting Althouse response to Mike; can we rule out that Macron ended up having to walk because of these screw ups? Maybe 5.
Pro-Hamas holes - is my guess.
“At least the inside job (if any) is at the clown show level.”
There is no clown level. Our President was wounded and a man fatally shot in Pennsylvania, a week ago a friend of the President was assassinated.
"Regardless, if intentional; the people involved should have zero access to operate equipment with such important dignitaries around. " 100%
find them - fire them. at minimum.
These types of snarky acts are precisely in keeping with the kinds of behavior on display at the UN in its official day-to-day activities. When do we ever see the UN, as a governing body, acting in good faith? How is it possible to give the benefit of the doubt to anybody there, about anything that happens within those walls? They have the worst institutional offenders in the world sitting on the Human Rights Committee, just as an example, and they want their system of justice to be granted overriding authority over any nation's, while they are busy trying to prosecute Presidents on charges they have nothing to do with.
Kick them out and stop the gravy train until, as their major underwriter, we have audit authority.
The UN complex is treated as a sovereign for diplomatic purposes. When the US President comes there, it is like going to Britain or Russia or Liechtenstein. The Secret Service can negotiate for certain security measures, but can't dictate. The result of those negotiations is that the US President gets treated about the same as the Grand Duke of Liechtenstein walking through the building.
Having said all that, the security risk is pretty low - the USSS creates a massive outer perimeter on US soil starting at the complex gates. The UN security force itself, if only for crowd-control reasons, severely limits who comes in the building to just the heads of state and very small numbers of their staffs. So the Trumps could have a day-long picnic on the escalator and they wouldn't be exposed to very much danger.
Having said all that, a sudden stop on the escalator probably would have killed Biden. Trump might have fallen, but would just have gotten up, pumped his fist, and said "Climb, Climb, Climb!!" CC, JSM
What would we do without Steven to bring us the far left media interpretation of events? Such a service!
To be safe - demolish the UN building.
The UN is at clown show level.
It remains the largest grift operation in the world.
The UN should be disbanded, gutted, and closed. The idea is good, the operation is corrupt, stale, and out of control. Try again in a few years with a new approach, new vision, and entirely different people involved.
Or...nations might just try talking to each other, as Donald Trump tries to do. The UN has prevented nothing, created no peace, and actually takes part in abominable attacks on people they are supposed to protect.
Donald Trump has created more peace in his 5 years as President than the UN has done in 50 years.
"Stopping an escalator 1/2 way up is a perfect set up for an assassination"/"and the escalators stopping made him a stationary target at a known time at a known location.
Makes me think of the toll booth scene in "The Godfather."
Steven said...
According to reports this morning...
Link? Failing to provide a source suggests you lack of confidence in the reliability of that source and that information.
This does explain Trump's tangent on the UN choosing another contractor.
Let me just add #1, #2, and #3 should never be on stage at a public event together as they were at the Kirk memorial service. (It’s possible they weren’t ) Also can we get rid of the State of the Union gathering. The heads of all 3 branches in one space at the same time. No mas.
Temujin 8:15 - Yes indeed.
Makes me think of the toll booth scene in "The Godfather."
I was just thinking that.
john mosby said...
The UN complex is treated as a sovereign for diplomatic purposes. … The result of those negotiations is that the US President gets treated about the same as the Grand Duke of Liechtenstein walking through the building.
Great theoretical statement. In practice, the head of a member of the Security Council with veto rights and the major donor to the UN can pretty much dictate to the UN — if the UN is smart, a major limitation.
They used to send UN staffers to the Secretary-General's office for this kind of thing, where they could expect to be paddled and given detention. They don't do that anymore and you can see the result.
@Bob Boyd, this is discussed in the story already linked by Althouse.
It's so easy to make up a plausible lie that it's just about impossible to get at the truth, which is what lies like this are for. If it is true that the videographer accidentally pushed the button, which I am pretty sure, most of them have covers so that they don't get pushed without intent, then it will come out in the investigation, at which point, the same liars will claim "cover up" by Trump's people.
This was a really, really stupid move by the UN.
They get way too much money from the US. Trump gains 5 points in the polls by cutting them off completely, shutting them down, and giving everyone who works there 24 hours to leave the country.
One is an accident, two is a coincidence, and three is enemy action----as the saying goes. Escalator, teleprompter, muddled audio for Trump, but not for the other speakers during the day. Little twits need to be tossed from Turtle Bay along with the rest of the clowns.
These incidents must be investigated. Whether they were accidental or deliberate, the UN has training, maintenance or staffing issues.
The UN building must have cameras everywhere and logs of everything. If the Secret Service can't resolve these minor incidents, then UN security is lax or the Secret Service is.
Why doesn't someone find the videographer and ask him?
I don't trust a word the UN security chief would say about this.
I’m thinking about what would have happened had the teleprompter frozen while Presidents number 44 or 46 were addressing the UN. Had the teleprompter frozen while Obama was addressing the UN, we’d have heard twenty minutes of disjointed talking points mixed woth pablum and including at least ten minutes of him saying “um.” Had the teleprompter frozen on Biden it would have been even worse.
Every news agency is reporting the version from the UN security, e.g., https://www.reuters.com/world/us/who-stopped-un-escalator-likely-trumps-videographer-says-un-2025-09-24/
@ Aggie
That's what I get for not reading linked article. I've read it now. Thx.
Steven referred to "reports this morning" so it sounded like he was talking about some other reports and maybe he was.
I stand by what I said about links in general.
Why doesn't someone find the videographer and ask him?
Why are all videos of it from the ground watching them go up if this was the case?
Another win for Team MAGA at the hands of the lefty libturds thinking that placing Trump in an embarrassing situation would have a positive impact on their cause.
I must, however, disagree with Heartless Aztec whom gets the characters flipped in the script. Now we are going to see President Blutarsky rain a shit storm down on the UN parade.
In the last five years, we learned that everything is broken. Trump's speech was a litany of issues that his administration has addressed, and work still to be done.
These minor issues at the UN are like a "Check Engine" light coming on. It's was lucky that this all happened to President Trump. He is not the kind of guy to ignore the warning.
OT: Multiple fatalities in shooting at Dallas ICE facility, acting ICE director says
The basic problem with the UN is that each member state is there solely to pursue its own discrete, national interests, not to share in the responsibility of running an actual international government. And through our participation in this charade, the U.S. necessarily confers prestige on a bunch of states that share none of our civic or cultural values, and/or that wish our destruction. If Trump isn't going to actually pull us out of the UN, it's at least to his credit that he disparages it at every turn.
"Let me just add #1, #2, and #3 should never be on stage at a public event together as they were at the Kirk memorial service. (It’s possible they weren’t ) Also can we get rid of the State of the Union gathering. The heads of all 3 branches in one space at the same time. No mas."
The designated survivor last Sunday was Scott Bessent.
Lack of a teleprompter didn't seem to phase Trump at all. He knows what he wants to say to them. He was probably just more direct off the cuff.
The end result was that the Europeans got rubbed with a heavier grit of sand paper than they otherwise might of.
Aggie is right that The Times of London does a good job providing the investigation and explanation of the escalator failure. Not sure I buy it, but they are just reporting what a tech said. And if true, then it will be easier for the Secret Service to clear it. Also if true, the fact that there were "jokes" previously made that turned out to occur is still a bad look for the UN. Would we expect foreign dignitaries to accept this explanation as innocent?
Broken lines, broken strings
Broken threads, broken springs
Broken idols, broken heads
People sleeping in broken beds
Ain't no use jiving, ain't no use joking
Everything is broken
Broken bottles, broken plates
Broken switches, broken gates
Broken dishes, broken parts
Streets are filled with broken hearts
Broken words never meant to be spoken
Everything is broken
Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground
Broken cutters, broken saws
Broken buckles, broken laws
Broken bodies, broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath, feel like you're choking
Everything is broken
Every time you leave and go off someplace
Things fall to pieces in my face
Broken hands on broken ploughs
Broken treaties, broken vows
Broken pipes, broken tools
People bending broken rules
Hound dog howling, bull frog croaking
Everything is broken
I guess that's why we use the term "clown show". Because even if it was an honest mistake; it appears on the surface to be like a clown pretending to be incompetent at doing common things. Except clowns pretend and these guys are really incompetent.
Prof: “ The designated survivor last Sunday was Scott Bessent.”
Could you imagine? This is pretty close to Achilles’ Law: if you don’t like Trump, you really won’t like Pinochet.
Except it’ll be Pino-gay! Replace the Tyrant with a Raging Queen! If he gets in fistfights for rinky dink cabinet infighting, imagine what he would do to the perps of a mass casualty event, with the awesome power of the USG behind him.
(And yes, he’s used to having awesome power behind him….try the veal!) CC, JSM
MAGA is about to do several days on the escalator. We really aren’t going to see peak MAGA on this until later but we’re off to a good start.
The Left is so petty and vindicative. And violent.
Move the UN to Lagos, Nigeria; that's where it belongs.
Isn't the mission of the UN world peace? But it took Trump to really create world peace. What a hero!
Members of a country's UN delegation have diplomatic immunity. Does this mean a representative of Palestine or France could safely leave the country after assassinating Trump?
People responded to my comment asking for a source. Here is one: https://abcnews.go.com/US/responds-trump-escalator-malfunction/story?id=125885502
Still, many here exist under a perpetual cloud of grievance and paranoia, so that I don't expect providing a source will actually do convince the people who requested it.
Cut his teleprompter and get shittalked about for an hour or so… seems like that one backfired bigly.
Childish pranks by children.
But there were two pranks. So how many children are employed by the UN and what is the UN going to do about it?
The UN doing what they do best: make everything they involve themselves with much worse.
Steven said...Still, many here exist under a perpetual cloud of grievance and paranoia
When the explanation beggars belief you can hardly blame people for not believing it. Have you ever in your life accidently hit the stop button on an escalator? Have you even once in your life witnessed somebody do it?
But ABC says it happened, so we have to regard that as the most likely explanation.
Steven,
Look at where escalator stop buttons are. Low, usually under a recurve, and with a plastic cover. Designed so that they can't be accidentally operated.
I don't buy the story of accienal stoppage.
John Henry
When my sister and I were kids we used to go to the mall and hit the stop button on escalators for fun. It's not difficult to do, but I cannot imagine how a person might do it by accident. We thought it was tremendously funny seeing all the confused people on the escalators jerk to a stop and start looking around.
If nobody is punished for wrongdoing you incentivize more wrongdoing…
… AP’s UN correspondent Farnoush Amiri: “A UN official said the UN understands that someone from the president’s party who ran ahead of him inadvertently triggered the stop mechanism on the escalator. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House was operating the teleprompter for Trump.”
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