Donald Trump announces end to congestion pricing with bold statement: ‘Long Live The King’

On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. As soon as he was in office, he began making changes. One of the changes President Trump has made concerns congestion pricing.

As explained by CNN, congestion pricing is a toll paid by drivers heading into Manhattan, south of 60th Street, during peak traffic, which is $9. There is also an overnight charge to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, priced at $2.25. This is the congestion relief zone.

He recently announced his decision to end congestion pricing on social media, but people are talking about his post for a different reason.

Donald Trump to put an end to congestion pricing

As mentioned above, President Trump, who won a $25 million settlement from Meta, wants to end congestion pricing. As per BBC News, the Trump administration argues that the federal government has jurisdiction over highways leading into the city and is cancelling its approval of the programme over concerns it unfairly burdens working-class residents in the region.

The congestion pricing system was only introduced on January 5, 2025, and the money earned from the toll is supposed to be used to upgrade the city’s ageing transit systems.

As the Trump administration pushes to end the toll, the White House posted on its social media a photo of Donald Trump with a crown and the words ‘Long live the king’. Moreover, the caption read, being signed by the POTUS:

"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"

People’s reactions to 'King Trump'

As expected, there are various reactions to the White House’s post about 'Long Live The King'. As reported by BBC News, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is fighting hard to keep congestion pricing in place.

Hochul claimed the President is trying to take away the state’s rights by interfering. Moreover, she talked about ‘King Trump’ and explained that the city ‘hasn’t laboured under a king in over 250 years’ and they don’t want to start again.

This is an attack on our sovereign identity, our independence from Washington. We are a nation of states. This is what we fought for. We are not subservient to a king or anyone else out of Washington. So this is the fight we're in. It's all about our sovereignty.

People also directly reacted on X, with one commenter saying that the White House isn’t ‘even trying’ to deny that ‘Trump is a dictator’.

Not even trying to hide the fact that Trump is a dictator…

Others have said that it’s a reference to being king of New York, which is ‘pretty common’:

This comes off as King of NY to me, which is pretty common for people to say.

Another X user said that whether or not you’re a Trump supporter, the language used by the White House is ‘concerning’.

I don't care if you are a Trump supporter or not This language coming out of the White House official page is concerning.

President Trump’s other controversial posts

Indeed, President Donald Trump is no stranger to saying what he really thinks and regularly shares those views on social media and he has had a string of controversial posts in the past couple of days.

Recently, the POTUS claimed that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is a ‘dictator’.

Also, the White House shared a ‘mocking’ ASMR video of shackled deportees. This post was not well received and many X users questioned why this was posted from the official White House account.

Read more:

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Sources used:

CNN: ‘Trump administration moves to kill New York City’s congestion pricing’

Truth Social

BBC News: ‘Trump administration moves to end New York City congestion charge’

Aljazeera: ‘White House trolls with mocking ‘ASMR’ video of shackled deportees’

X