It’s a pretty established tenant of American governance that we don’t have kings. Our founding, after all, came about from fighting a king. But that was before Donald Trump.
In a Truth Social post-Wednesday, the president declared that he was ending New York’s controversial congestion pricing plan, which had gone into effect in January.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD,” the post said. “Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” The message was sent around the same time that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, terminating federal approval of the program.
Both the beginning and end of the post got a great deal of attention for different reasons. The congestion pricing plan, implemented due to an agreement between New York’s then-mayor and governor, went into effect in January, and it’s unclear if the president has the power to unilaterally overrule. That is a question that will likely end up in the courts.
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However, the “Love Live the King” declaration was even more controversial than that. Quite a few people reacted in shock, including to a subsequent message released by the White House’s official X account, with a fake Time magazine cover of Trump wearing a crown:
The guy who just spent the weekend quoting Napoleon about how he can’t “violate any law” and then, literally the next day, signed an executive order declaring that only he gets to decide what the law is, just straight-up called himself a King.
The Official WH Account: pic.twitter.com/uCHUlFTZFF
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) February 19, 2025
Here are some of the more shocked social media reactions:
However, you would have reacted to this image is how you should react to one of Trump as king. pic.twitter.com/pq1HLxTAfE
— Andy Lancaster (@andylancaster) February 19, 2025
Trump now refers to himself as “the king”
Impeach. pic.twitter.com/U5LVM5O9K7
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 19, 2025
The White House follows up on President Trump’s Truth Social post, in which he referred to himself as a king with a fake magazine cover in the style of Time Magazine. pic.twitter.com/W9sAcF7SNO
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 19, 2025
While he said nothing about Trump’s elevation of himself to royal status, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, issued a statement thanking Trump and Duffy for halting the congestion pricing program.
I want to thank President Trump and Secretary Duffy for their efforts to halt the current congestion pricing program.
While I have consistently expressed openness to a form of congestion pricing, the current program lines the MTA’s pockets at the expense of New Jerseyans. pic.twitter.com/PNr3qZ8ADE
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) February 19, 2025
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
