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| - In mid-February 2025, concerned readers flooded Snopes' inbox with questions about an alleged post from U.S. President Donald Trump and the official White House social media accounts that called Trump "the king" alongside an image of him wearing a crown.
One reader asked, "Did Donald Trump post 'Long Live the King' referring to himself to his Truth Social account? Was the post also posted to the official White House X and Instagram handles?"
Other users posted the claim in a popular Reddit thread and across social media platforms like TikTok (archived), Threads (archived) and Instagram (archived).
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"
–President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/IMr4tq0sMB— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 19, 2025
The claim that the White House's official social media accounts, including X (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived), posted an image of Donald Trump wearing a crown with the caption "Long live the king" is true.
The text that accompanied the posts read in full, "'CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!' –President Donald J. Trump."
The text quoted Trump's own post on Truth Social (archived) from Feb. 19, 2025.
The posts from White House accounts added an image generated by artificial intelligence (AI) depicting a fake magazine cover in the style of Time magazine. The cover features Trump wearing a crown and the words "Long live the king" with the New York City skyline in the background.
The AI-detection platform Hive Moderation declared a 99.8% chance the image was created with AI, but the posts containing it are indeed authentic.
(Hive Moderation)
The mention of "congestion pricing" refers to the Trump administration's move to stop a new toll fee intended to alleviate traffic problems in New York City.
The Associated Press reported, "Launched on Jan. 5, the city's system uses license plate readers to impose a $9 toll on most vehicles entering Manhattan neighborhoods south of Central Park. In its early days, transit officials said the toll has brought modest but measurable traffic reductions."
AP also reported that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) filed a lawsuit to keep the toll intact, which Gov. Kathy Hobuchal said would remain in force until the lawsuit is settled.
Further, Trump's statement appears to be a direct reference to the organized protests that took place on Feb. 17, 2025, which featured chants of "No kings on Presidents Day."
When Snopes asked the White House for comment on the "Long live the king" posts, spokesperson Kush Desai replied by email:
After Democrats weaponized the judicial system against their political opponents and coerced social media companies to censor dissenting voices, Americans took a stand in November to preserve democracy when they overwhelmingly elected President Trump and rejected the left's authoritarian thuggery. The Trump administration will continue to defend the cherished rights and freedoms of everyday Americans while putting America First.
The United States of America was famously formed in 1776 following a revolution to declare independence from King George III and Great Britain, as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
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