California Gov. Gavin Newsom mocked Donald Trump in a series of savage takes after an escalator malfunctioned during the president’s United Nations visit.
The escalator abruptly stopped, with the world watching, just as President Trump stepped onto the moving stairway with first lady Melania Trump.
Incredibly, the White House said it was investigating whether the escalator was intentionally sabotaged to humiliate him, but the U.N. said Trump’s videographer may have triggered a safety mechanism.
Newsom seized on the incident as an opportunity to troll Trump. His press office commented on the gaffe on social media, imitating Trump’s rambling, all-caps Truth Social rants.
Newsom has spent months ridiculing the president and his policies, and the attack dog image has boosted his own profile.
“DOZY DON WAS DEFEATED BY THE ESCALATOR, POOR GUY!” Newsom’s press office said on X on Tuesday. “THE ENTIRE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT THE LOW IQ “PRESIDENT.” NEXT STOP: THE BEST ROOM AT MEMORY MEADOWS RETIREMENT RESORT. TYLENOL INCLUDED. ENJOY YOUR STAY, DON! — GCN.”
In another X post on Tuesday, Newsom wrote, “I only walk up escalators because that’s what REAL MANLY MEN do.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X after the escalator mishap that if someone at the U.N. “intentionally” stopped it, “they need to be fired and investigated immediately.”
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, said the escalator may have stopped because Trump’s videographer was walking backwards to film the president and the first lady.
A readout of its central processing unit “indicated that the escalator had stopped after a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step was triggered at the top of the escalator,” Dujarric said.
Trump’s teleprompter also stopped working as he began his address to the U.N. General Assembly. “I can only say that whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” the president said.
The U.N. said the teleprompter was being operated by the White House.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
On a press call with the Daily Beast and other reporters on Aug. 20, Newsom defended his trolling strategy, saying, “If nothing else, we’ve called out the absurdity of the normalization of Donald Trump.”
Newsom has also aimed at Vice President JD Vance who accused him of “trying to be a fake carbon copy of Donald Trump.”
“You can’t mimic the king,” Vance said in a Fox News interview about the X posts from Newsom’s press office.
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