Jen Psaki isn’t pulling punches. In a blistering MSNBC op-ed, the former White House press secretary and current host took aim at Donald Trump over a bizarre episode at the United Nations — one that Psaki says offers a clear window into the ex-president’s character: “small, weak and petty.”
During Trump’s visit to the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week, he and Melania had just stepped onto an escalator when it abruptly stopped, forcing them to walk up the steps. A minor inconvenience for anyone else — but not for Trump. Instead of brushing it off, the former president worked himself into a fury, bringing it up in his speech and later exploding on Truth Social.
For Psaki, this wasn’t just a tantrum. It was textbook Trump.
“That brief saga of Trump and the U.N. escalator is sort of a perfect encapsulation of what I like to call the Trump rage cycle,” Psaki wrote. “First, Trump decides he feels slighted by someone or something — it can be something as small as a minor technical malfunction — and then he lashes out, doing or saying something ridiculous and, in the process, calling even more attention to whatever has bruised his fragile ego.”
According to her, this is when things get dangerous. It’s not just whining. It’s weaponization.
“Then, Trump and his administration threaten to use the full force of the federal government to get payback, either through bogus investigations, troop mobilizations or threats from the Federal Communications Commission, all to avenge the Dear Leader,” Psaki wrote.
In other words, a busted escalator becomes a federal crisis — not because it matters, but because Trump needs it to.
This pattern, Psaki argues, is well-established. She points to Trump’s obsession with comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who he tried to get booted from television. And while the comedian was temporarily suspended, public backlash forced ABC to bring him back — and ratings soared.
“When Trump tried to take things from ridiculous to terrifying, when he tried to thump his chest and make himself seem big, people stood up and treated him like the small, weak and petty bully he is,” Psaki said.
That line hits hard — because it lands. Trump’s escalator meltdown might seem laughable at first glance, but Psaki wants the public to see it for what it really is: a predictable pattern of narcissistic grievance, inflated into outrage, and backed by a willingness to turn federal power into a personal revenge tool.
She doesn’t mince words. “Insecure authoritarian bully,” Psaki calls him. And given the latest display of fury over a piece of moving machinery, it’s hard to argue the label doesn’t fit.
