After forcing the New York Governor to roll back congestion charges, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”

Trump’s social media post was accompanied by a mocked-up Time magazine cover with Trump wearing a crown, and grinning from ear to ear. There was some possibility that Mr Trump was joking, but soon enough the official White House account shared the same post. Probably, the fear he invoked in the minds of his opponents and compatriots, and the adulation of his followers, has convinced Trump that he is indeed the King. Even before Trump took over from Joe Biden, he proposed solutions to a number of intractable conflicts and problems; declaring interalia that he would end the Israel-Hamas conflict, Russia-Ukraine war, and reform the bureaucracy.

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The alacrity with which the principal actors responded was truly remarkable; a ceasefire has been declared in Gaza, the RussiaUkraine war has lost its intensity, and Trump’s friend, Elon Musk, is terrorising what is left of the bureaucracy. Domestically, Trump is ruling America by Presidential decrees, giving short shrift to the legislature. Trump says he is making America great again by freeing the bureaucracy of waste, fraud and sloth, but saner persons are afraid that Trump is wrecking the government structure, and paving the way for a Trumpian autocracy. The judiciary alone can stop Trump from overreaching; here Trump quoted Napoleon: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” hinting at a desire to confront the judiciary.

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As befits a monarch, Trump makes outrageous statements, and makes equally outrageous demands from leaders who come to pay homage to him. Later on, as is the wont of kings, Trump mellows down a bit, and allows himself to be persuaded to agree to somewhat more rational solutions. So, all those seeking an audience with Trump must come loaded with gifts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited Trump on 4 February, had to agree, at least superficially, to Trump’s proposal of the US taking control of Gaza, and turning it into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’

Then came Japanese PM Shinjiro Ishiba, who had to pledge a US$1 trillion investment in the US, and agree to import more Liquefied Natural........

© The Statesman