Donald Trump has faced adverse reaction after calling himself ‘king’ following a long-awaited change he introduced this week.

The 78-year-old Republican leader uploaded a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday (19 February) to announce an extremely controversial statement.

After the president’s statement, the official White House X account continued to share the quote along with a computer-generated image of Trump smiling ear to ear on a fake Time magazine cover wearing a golden crown with the skyline of the Big Apple behind him.

The words ‘LONG LIVE THE KING’ located on the bottom left-hand corner of the fake magazine cover.Hochul has since taken to X to share a statement on the matter with the comment: “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.”

The added statement: “Public transit is the lifeblood of New York City and critical to our economic future – as a New Yorker, like President Trump, knows very well.”

She continued: “Since this first-in-the-nation program took effect last month congestion has dropped dramatically and commuters are getting to work faster than ever.

“Broadway shows are selling out and foot traffic to local businesses is spiking. School buses are getting kids to class on time, and yellow cab trips increased by 10 percent.

“We’ll see you in court.”

When speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Hochul said: “New York hasn’t laboured under a king in over 250 years. We sure as hell are not going to start now…

“In case you don’t know New Yorkers, we’re going to fight. We do not back down, not now, not ever.”

“We don’t have kings in America, and I won’t bend the knee to one.”

And David Hogg, vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, shared: “Republicans: Stop overreacting and calling Trump a king”

“Literally the White House twitter account,” sharing a photo of the fake Time magazine cover.