Donald Trump is particularly attentive to escalators. He announced his first presidential bid in 2015 after riding down the one in Trump Tower, the New York headquarters of his business. On Tuesday, September 23, a little further east in the city, at the United Nations (UN) headquarters, the escalator the US president took to reach the General Assembly Hall suddenly stopped. He saw in this as symbolic of the multilateral institution, which he has always despised, considering it to be dysfunctional and hostile. When the teleprompter then failed at the podium, his irritation only grew.

But these technical glitches – which later led the White House to call for an investigation into possible sabotage – did not change the thrust of his speech. It delivered on its promises, if not more. Trump no longer pretends. He makes no effort to appear respectable or diplomatic, giving himself over entirely to his obsessions without regard for the liberal values the United States long claimed to defend and embody. The tycoon celebrated the destruction of boats allegedly controlled by drug cartels off the coast of Venezuela. He lectured Europeans on immigration and the climate, "a double-tailed monster" that he claimed threatened their existence, urging them to favor strong borders and fossil fuels. And he attacked the UN itself in unprecedented terms.

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