Crown Fits: Trump's 'No Kings' Rhetoric, Royal Ennui
The Independent breathlessly reported Trump, who once denounced 'No Kings,' was gifted a gold crown in Korea. (How's that for subtle messaging?) This isn't just about a foreign dignitary's bizarre offering; it's a spectacle. This is the same former president who, in 2020, declared, "When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total." Total, one might ask, like a monarch?
His critics then, and now, have consistently questioned the line between executive power and monarchical impulses. The Korea Times reported widespread domestic criticism of the gift as 'cringeworthy' and 'sykophantic' even before it reached Trump's adorned head. The media frames this as a quirky anecdote, missing the bigger picture: Trump's consistent flirtation with authoritarian language and his
supporters' embrace of it. The 'No Kings' slogan, deployed against perceived federal overreach, rings hollow when the very figure it supposedly protects embraces the regalia of absolute power. How many declarations of humility does a 'populist' need before the gold leaf starts peeling off the façade?