President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute summit in Miami Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)Donald Trump’s apparent declaration of himself as a monarch drew fierce blowback on Wednesday.
The president hailed his administration’s announcement of the nixing of New York City’s fledgling congestion pricing plan with a post on his Truth social platform, which read: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell slammed Trump’s “utterly insane words.”
Trump’s comment was also shared by the White House’s account on X, formerly Twitter, alongside what O’Donnell damningly described as “a deeply perverse rendition of Donald Trump on what was designed to appear to be a fake Timemagazine cover with him wearing a gold crown that he imagines kings wear every day.”
On social media, the Trump-as-king imagery trended for the wrong reasons, with even some conservatives suggesting they weren’t comfortable with the idea. A lot of Trump’s MAGA base predictably loved it, though.
Which law professor(s) will write an op-ed arguing that Trump really is king?
— Scott Shapiro (@scottjshapiro.bsky.social)2025-02-19T19:19:21.180Z
Donald Trump is openly calling himself a king.Any Republican who pretends they don’t know where this is going is lying to you.
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards.bsky.social)2025-02-19T19:16:43.544Z
Well, I was going to write today about Trump throwing our allies and democratic values under the bus for Putin...then GOP said they'll cut Medicaid, so I wanted to write about that...now Trump is coming out and saying he's King after quoting Napoleon a few days ago...
— Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social)2025-02-19T19:13:43.095Z
I'm gonna be honest guys I don't think this is going to a great place for anyone
— pirate ????☠️ (high seas hijinks) (@pironautic) February 19, 2025
Well...it only took him a month to declare himself King.
— ElieNYC (@elienyc.bsky.social)2025-02-19T19:10:31.941Z
Yikes, wrong words to use. When people are saying “democracy is under attack” you don’t use the words “king” and “trump” in the same place.
— Ryan Stark (@OfficialSpires) February 19, 2025
He’s not talking about Elvis.
— Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social)2025-02-19T19:06:26.715Z
i'm a republican who voted trump, but no one man is a king. that's the ideals of our nation, no kings.
— Dan Henfox (@DanHenTRUTHFOX) February 19, 2025
I don't care if you are a Trump supporter or not
— EK ???? (@EK_2C4M) February 20, 2025
This language coming out of the White House official page is concerning.
Trump apparently just declared himself King
— Keith Olbermann (@olbermann.bsky.social)2025-02-19T19:05:45.244Z
