When President Donald Trump referred to himself as a “king,” several detractors questioned if the US was a democracy or a monarchy.
Trump, 78, said on his personal social media site, Truth Social, on Wednesday, February 19, “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD.” New York as a whole, including Manhattan, is saved. MAY THE KING LONG LIVE!
The remark followed the Trump administration’s decision to scrap the congestion pricing plan for New York City, which would have imposed fees on traffic entering specific parts of the city.
According to the BBC, the White House asserted that the contentious toll would “unfairly burden working-class residents in the region” and that the US federal government has jurisdiction over the roadways leading to New York.
The official White House X account has reposted Trump’s speech accompanied with an illustration that resembles the cover of TIME Magazine.
The words “LONG LIVE THE KING” were shown in the lower left-hand corner of the picture, which showed the 47th President of the United States wearing a crown.
Social media users have been commenting on the upload in droves over this image, which appears to have been computer-generated.
“Isn’t the whole point of America even existing to not have a monarch?” one critic wrote on X to voice their opinion.
“I believed that we lived in a democracy, not a monarchy,” argued a second.
Someone other said, “We literally fought a revolution to NOT have a king,” alluding to the American Revolution, which occurred from 1765 to 1783.
JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, also reacted to the phony magazine cover.
“As Governor of Illinois, I swear to uphold the Constitution of our state and our country,” he wrote.
“We don’t have kings in America, and I won’t bend the knee to one.”
Nonetheless, the contentious tweet was well received by Trump supporters, one of whom typed: “He looks good in a crown, definitely should get one.”
It appears that someone is having a royal day! Another said, “The crown emoji is almost required at the moment.”
“I voted for this!” said a third commenter.
Declaring the initiative a “slap in the face to working class Americans,” Sean Duffy, the newly appointed US Transportation Secretary, informed New York Governor Kathy Hochul that he would be withdrawing his approval of it.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
–President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/IMr4tq0sMB— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 19, 2025
“Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes,” he said.
“The toll program takes more money from working people to fund a transit system rather than highways, leaving cars without a free highway alternative. It’s unjust and backwards.
In response, Governor Hochul asserted that the state hasn’t “laboured under a King in over 250 years.”
“We absolutely will not begin at this time. We’re going to fight, in case you don’t know New Yorkers. “We will never, ever give up,” she declared.
Additionally, officials in New York have pledged to ‘fight’ the Trump administration to implement the proposed $9 (£7.15) toll.
According to the BBC, the congestion fee will apply to all cars entering Manhattan between 60th Street and the southernmost point of the island in the Financial District between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends.
According to transportation officials, the initiative would speed up first responders’ arrival at emergencies and help finance a revitalization of the New York subway system using the money collected from tolls.