It is nothing new for Donald Trump to make it to the headlines for the wrong reasons. The same thing happened again as he referred to himself as a ‘king’ in a post on Truth Social.
His post read, “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
This came after the Trump-led administration decided to kill New York’s congestion pricing program. On February 19, 2025, Sean Duffy, Trump’s transportation secretary, issued a letter to Kathy Hochul, the New York Governor. It is this letter that brought an end to the transportation department’s agreement with NY and brought forth a new congestion pricing program for Manhattan’ as reported by the Guardian.
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Trump’s gloating social media post came after this was finalized, and the White House shared the quotation on its social media. Their shared post also included a fake image of Trump on the cover of TIME magazine, where he was seen to be wearing a crown, as a king does.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s reaction has gotten critical comments from opponents and political analysts, who claim that Trump has been giving himself titles that go well and beyond his power.
Hochul, in response to what Trump posted, shared, “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.” She added: “Public transit is the lifeblood of New York City and critical to our economic future – as a New Yorker, like president Trump, knows very well.”
She further mentioned, in another post, “New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years. We sure as hell are not going to start now … In case you don’t know New Yorkers, we’re going to fight. We do not back down, not now, not ever.”
Besides Hochul, Elie Mystal, legal analyst of The Nation, said, “Well…it only took him a month to declare himself King.” Will Bunch, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, put forward his opinion on the matter, saying, “I’m sure he means the Pastrami King, which people will now again be able to drive to in their massive SUVs.”
Nicole Sandler, a political commentator, added, “Democracy is panicKing.” Another YouTube political host, Keith Edwards, mentioned, “Any Republican who pretends they don’t know where this is going is lying to you.”
Wajahat Ali, who is a columnist for the Daily Beast, made his opinions loud and clear, saying, “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…”
Trump receives widespread backlash to social post calling himself ‘king’
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While this is not the first time that Trump has shown the attitude of a megalomania, it has nonetheless invited a huge backlash. He had once claimed without any proof that Panama was ripping off the US and its shipping companies, and therefore, it’s their right to take those back, even if it means to involve the military.
Such atrocious claims and faith in his power show clear signs of megalomania. However, in most cases, these claims have been met with backlash, and the same has happened in this case.
It now remains to be seen how the Trump administration responds to the backlash or if at all they respond to these.
