President Donald Trump has declared himself a ‘King’ in an explosive social media post. Trump’s reference to himself as a monarch came after his officials halted New York City’s unpopular traffic congestion pricing system. The president, a New York native, wrote on Truth Social: ‘Congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan, and all of New York, is saved. Long Live The King!’
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich then shared the message along with a picture of Trump dressed in the regalia of a king. He appeared to have used Elon Musk’s new Grok 3 AI chatbot to make the image. An official White House social media account also posted a fake Time magazine cover that replaced ‘Time’ for ‘Trump’ and showed the president grinning and wearing a crown.
Trump had vowed to take on the traffic program, which charges a $9 toll on most vehicles entering Manhattan neighborhoods south of Central Park, when he returned to office. On Wednesday, his Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the move, announcing that the federal government had rescinded its approval. The program requires Department of Transport approval because it includes the federal highways that lead into and around the edges of Manhattan.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, quickly clapped back, saying that the Southern District of New York planned to sue. ‘We’ll see you in court,’ Hochul pledged. ‘We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.’
President Donald Trump labeled himself a ‘KING!’ on Wednesday after his administration halted New York City ‘s congestion pricing system
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich went a step further, sharing the message along with what appeared to be an AI image of Trump posing as a king
Hochul said the cameras would stay on and the tolls continue to be charged while the lawsuit was ongoing, regardless of Trump’s approval. Trump, whose namesake Trump Tower penthouse and other properties are within the congestion zone, had vowed to kill the plan as soon as he retook office.
He previously characterized it as a massive and regressive tax, saying ‘it will be virtually impossible for New York City to come back as long as the congestion tax is in effect.’ Similar tolling programs intended to get people into public transit by making driving cost-prohibitive have long existed in other global cities including London, Stockholm, Milan and Singapore, but the system had never before been tried in the U.S.
The head of the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s subway and other public transit, filed a lawsuit aimed at keeping the congestion pricing program alive, according to MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. ‘It’s mystifying that after four years and 4,000 pages of federally-supervised environmental review – and barely three months after giving final approval to the Congestion Relief Program – USDOT (United States Department of Transportation) would seek to totally reverse course,’ Lieber said.
New York planned to use the revenue from tolls to issue bonds that would fund billions of dollars in improvements and repairs for the city´s creaky and cash-strapped transit system, which carries some 4 million riders daily. But the tolling system has been highly divisive. Transit advocates and environmentalists have heralded it as an innovative step to reduce air pollution from vehicle exhaust, make streets safer for pedestrians and bikers, while speeding up traffic for vehicles that truly need to be on the road like delivery trucks, police cars and other first responders.
The official @WhiteHouse account shared another version of the Trump-as-king image, but one to look like a cover of Time magazine
But the high tolls are hated by many New Yorkers who own cars, particularly those that live in the suburbs or parts of the city not well-served by the subway system. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, had fought the tolls in court and wrote a letter to Trump on Inauguration Day imploring him to kill the program. Hochul also had misgivings but on Wednesday she vowed to fight for the program.
‘Since this first-in-the-nation program took effect last month, congestion has dropped dramatically and commuters are getting to work faster than ever,’ she said in a statement. ‘Broadway shows are selling out and foot traffic to local businesses is spiking,’ the governor continued. ‘School buses are getting kids to school on time, and yellow cab trips have increased by 10 percent.’ ‘Transit ridership is up, drivers are having a better experience, and support for this program is growing every day,’ she added.
