The hosts of The View discussed the recent social media post where Donald Trump referred to himself as a ‘King’. They shared their speculations on the reasons behind this declaration, while also touching on Republican Senator Susan Collins, with Joy Behar making critical remarks towards her.
Trump’s reference to himself as a monarch came after his officials moved to halt 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.
On Thursday’s show, anti-Trump commentator Ana Navarro led the overwhelmingly liberal panel in Trump’s motives behind the humorous post.
‘Look, I think what he did with this – calling himself king – is he’s trolling the opposition,’ said Navarro.
Behar suggested that Trump’s ‘King’ statement might be a diversion tactic to divert attention from important issues like the cuts to the federal government proposed by Elon Musk’s DOGE. She implied that this move could be an attempt to distract Democrats from focusing on these significant policy changes.
‘He is distracting us, distracting the media so that we don’t talk about the nuclear scientists who were accidentally fired,’ she said.
Navarro added that Trump doesn’t want to talk about survivors of September 11 attacks losing benefits or the increased price of eggs.
Meanwhile, Behar demanded action not from fellow Democrats but from the Republican Senator from Maine.
During the discussion, Behar specifically called out the Republicans in Congress, highlighting Collins as an example. Collins, known as a moderate Republican who occasionally aligns with Democrats, was singled out by Behar and co-host Sara Haines as they analyzed the political dynamics surrounding Trump’s ‘King’ declaration.
Behar exclaimed: ‘Step up and do your job and stop kissing his butt!’
Trump appeared to have used ‘First Buddy’ 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.
It came days after Trump issued a similar post echoing France’s Napoleon Bonaparte.
Trump wrote: ‘He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.’
That phrase has been attributed to the French military leader who declared himself Emperor in 1804.
Trump has signaled that he wants to extend the limits of his executive authority despite multiple legal challenges that appear headed toward U.S. Supreme Court showdowns.
Some of the lawsuits accuse Trump of usurping the authority of Congress as set out in the U.S. Constitution.
In New York, Trump had vowed to take on the traffic program, which charges a $9 toll on most vehicles entering Manhattan neighborhoods south of Central Park.
On Wednesday, his Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the move, announcing that the federal government had rescinded its approval.
The program requires that approval because it includes federal highways that lead into Manhattan.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, hit back at Trump, saying that the Southern District of New York planned to sue.
‘We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king,’ she said. ‘We’ll see you in court.’
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.
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.
