Donald Trump started his speech to the United Nations with a couple of jokes after he fell afoul of some minor inconveniences with a teleprompter and an escalator.
The President was set to deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, but first had to deal with some technical issues.
Even the President of the United States isn’t immune to the occasional AV nightmare.
Donald Trump’s UN speech started with some off-the-cuff remarks
After he struggled with a broken escalator on the way in, Trump’s tech problems continued as he stepped up to the microphone to deliver one of his trademark firebrand speeches.
No sooner had the POTUS stepped up to the podium, his teleprompter failed.
Perhaps surprisingly, Trump took it on the chin and even joked about the unfortunate turn of events.
After all, Trump has previous for not taking a joke that well - or a portrait, for that matter.
“I don’t mind making the speech without a teleprompter because the teleprompter is not working,” he said.
“I can only say that whoever is operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.”
Before he took to the stage, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had built up the speech as a ‘blunt’ and ‘tough talk’ about the ‘failures of globalism’.
In the end, the real talking point was the failure of the technology.
Even that couldn’t stop Trump from laying into the United Nations, though.
Elsewhere in his speech, Trump bemoaned both the teleprompter, the escalator that stopped on him and his wife, and the organization that was hosting him.
“All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up, stopped right in the middle,” Trump said.
“If the First Lady wasn't in great shape, she would have fallen.
“But we're in great shape, we're both in good shape, and then the teleprompter didn't work, these are the two things I got from the United Nations, a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.
“Thank you very much.”
He then added: “By the way, it's working now.”
In the end, Trump’s speech went off in pretty typical fashion
Thankfully - depending on your perspective - Trump managed to get his speech done and even mentioned the conflicts that he claims to have stopped over the years.
From India and Pakistan, Congo and Rwanda, to Israel and Iran, Trump claims to have stopped many wars in his time.
“I have ended seven unendable wars, they said they were unendable,” he claimed.
“I ended seven wars and in all cases they were raging with countless thousands of people being killed.”
He added: “[No one has] ever done anything close to that.
“And I did it in just seven months. It's never happened before.
“There's never been anything like that.
“I’m very honoured to have done it.”