Trump Announces Presidential Candidacy with Escalator Ride

The Escalator

On the morning of June 16, 2015, Donald and Melania Trump descended the escalator in the pink-marble atrium of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” blared over the speakers as they glided downward past a crowd that included, according to later reports, paid actors hired to fill out the audience and cheer. At the bottom, Trump took the stage to announce that he was running for president of the United States.

The image of the golden escalator descent became one of the most iconic visuals of modern American politics, replayed countless times over the following years as a symbol of the moment everything changed.

The Speech

Trump’s announcement speech ran for approximately 45 minutes and was delivered without a teleprompter in a rambling, stream-of-consciousness style that would become his trademark. The most incendiary passage came early, when Trump said of Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

The remarks drew immediate condemnation from both parties and from Latino advocacy groups. NBC severed its business relationship with Trump within days, canceling the Miss Universe pageant and removing The Apprentice from its schedule. Macy’s dropped his clothing line. Univision pulled out of broadcasting the Miss USA pageant. The backlash was swift and widespread, but Trump did not apologize or walk back the comments.

He also promised to build a “great, great wall” on the southern border and make Mexico pay for it, proposed a ban on Muslims entering the country (a policy he would formally announce in December 2015), and declared that he would be “the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”

The Reaction

Political analysts, media commentators, and most of the Republican establishment dismissed Trump’s candidacy as a publicity stunt. The Huffington Post announced it would cover his campaign in its entertainment section rather than its politics section. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight gave Trump a roughly 2% chance of winning the Republican nomination. Late-night comedians treated the announcement as a gift.

Among the few who took the threat seriously was Republican strategist Rick Wilson, who warned that Trump’s willingness to say things no conventional politician would say gave him an advantage in a crowded primary field of sixteen other Republican candidates. Within weeks, Trump had surged to the top of Republican primary polls, a position he would never relinquish. The escalator ride that was supposed to be a joke turned out to be the beginning of the most disruptive political movement in modern American history.