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 Time magazine 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.