Althouse: Responding to "No Kings," Trump has repeatedly said, "I'm not a king."

April 29, 2026

Responding to "No Kings," Trump has repeatedly said, "I'm not a king."

And now we get this from The White House:

TWO KINGS. 👑 pic.twitter.com/iPVUxc4i4H
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 28, 2026

I guess somebody decided that trolling is better than consistency.

65 comments:

Enigma said...: We need an AI image of Charles with Biden as a sock puppet. Everyone agrees that Biden was no king.

"No Sock Puppets."; 4/29/26, 7:38 AM
bagoh20 said...: The trolling is the consistency.; 4/29/26, 7:39 AM
bagoh20 said...: You have to have to be in awe of "No Kings" followed by Democrats' standing ovation at the first sight of a real one, when they wouldn't even stand for wounded airmen or widows.; 4/29/26, 7:41 AM
Esteban said...: That's just funny.; 4/29/26, 7:42 AM
Two-eyed Jack said...: In the US we essentially elect a man with the powers of a king every four years, but that king must give up those powers at the end of his term. In the UK, the king inherits the position but the powers were mostly given up more than a century ago.; 4/29/26, 7:42 AM
Chris said...: Obvious trolling. But the libtards will take it seriously. Where were all the no kings protests for King Charles? I mean, he's an actual king.; 4/29/26, 7:44 AM
rehajm said...: Only Republicans are held to a consistency standard unless you consider the Democrats consistent inconsistency a consistency standard.; 4/29/26, 7:45 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Aren't English tailors supposed to be the best? And wouldn't the King get the best of the best? What's wrong with the Charles' jacket? It looks like he slept in it.; 4/29/26, 7:46 AM
narciso said...: Harry hart would have a better suit available; 4/29/26, 7:49 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: Why the visit was important is sustaining the relationship with the people of the US by taking part in this special 250 year celebration of their independence from Britain. It has reduced the scope for Trump stirring up enmity with his base for Britain not rushing in to take part in Trump's ill conceived war and then insulting the people of America by a failure to turn up at their (not Trump's) special celebration.

But the main payback from this visit will be a few years down the track -- after the end of the Trump presidency. In this ever more dangerous world these people to people relationships matter. It has been a master class in diplomacy. The King has played his role well. A job well done.; 4/29/26, 7:52 AM
Aggie said...: Trump's smile looks just like Teddy.; 4/29/26, 7:54 AM
tim maguire said...: The "No Kings" people deserve no respect. I see no reason to pass up a good trolling opportunity against those clowns out of mere desire for consistency.; 4/29/26, 7:55 AM
boatbuilder said...: The only American President who tried to make himself a king was FDR. The great hero of the Left.; 4/29/26, 7:58 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: I feel like this message is received differently depending on the age group of the person reading it. Younger folks, especially men will use King as a term of endearment for men. From what I've gathered it seems more to focus on how that person is calm, noble, and effective. It is less about that person having a certain status or wielding a certain level of power and more like that person is a man's man. It is not that person is in charge do what he says, and more like that person gets things done.; 4/29/26, 8:03 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Aren't English tailors supposed to be the best? And wouldn't the King get the best of the best? What's wrong with the Charles' jacket? It looks like he slept in it."

Per Grok: "It's bespoke, so it follows his frame (not overly tight or boxy like off-the-rack). Royals often favor classic English cuts that prioritize comfort and tradition over razor-sharp perfection. Compared to Trump's more structured dark suit, the softer blue pinstripe can read as less "crisp" in photos. This aligns with Charles's long-standing personal style: he recycles favorite suits, favors subtle patterns, and goes for understated elegance over flash. It's the same approach that gets called "timeless" in other appearances. In context, it's a ceremonial White House event during the state visit—practical for a full day of events, not a red-carpet static pose." If it looks particularly rumpled to you, it's probably just the lighting, angle, or post-sitting creases in this frame."

So: He meant to do that.; 4/29/26, 8:03 AM
rehajm said...: …kind of complementary really as the free pass implies the Democrats are incapable of anything as intellectually challenging.; 4/29/26, 8:03 AM
Not an oldster. said...: Lol... Meade voted for this.
People love trolling today.

Dont be so sensitive, sailor.
Know your role, ann. You're an aging cheerleader for the Rs and all these wars for Israel. Laugh and enjoy your growing wealth like the rest of the elite boomers whose life work has led us here?; 4/29/26, 8:06 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "The only American President who tried to make himself a king was FDR."

The second volume of Edmund Morris's great trilogy about Theodore Roosevelt, the one about his presidency, is called "Theodore Rex."; 4/29/26, 8:08 AM
Howard said...: Bonnie Prince Charlie's suit is bespoke like the sartorial aspects of Joe Shit the Ragman.; 4/29/26, 8:09 AM
narciso said...: Yes they are ridiculous and dangerous as we saw on thursday; 4/29/26, 8:09 AM
Howard said...: Obambi was going for Pope.; 4/29/26, 8:10 AM
Humperdink said...: To me, Trump showering King Charles with affection and compliments is a slap at the current UK Prime Minister.; 4/29/26, 8:11 AM
Bob Boyd said...: So: He meant to do that.

It's good to be the King.; 4/29/26, 8:13 AM
Gusty Winds said...: We love the trolling. The accusation of Trump being a "king" is just stupid.; 4/29/26, 8:14 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Royals often favor classic English cuts that prioritize comfort and tradition over razor-sharp perfection.

I approve of that approach.; 4/29/26, 8:20 AM
Gusty Winds said...: I guess somebody decided that trolling is better than consistency. I'm pretty sure that "somebody" is Trump. Even if someone else is running the White House X account, they know what Trump wants.

How is this WH post "inconsistent"? We expect this.

It's the opposite of auto-pen Biden. He just followed orders from those surrounding him.; 4/29/26, 8:20 AM
imTay said...: Narcissist, and narcissism comes with a lot more downsides than just excessive self regard, it comes with an inability to compromise, and you know, he has his finger on the button... oh wait, he doesn't, because the military refused him the codes that Netanyahu wanted him to have, because what his narcism does is make him easily manipulated by psychopaths like that.

If you say he doesn't think about himself as a "king," well, maybe dictator would be a better description, since a king is just a dictator with better public relations.; 4/29/26, 8:25 AM
RJW said...: Trump isn’t a king. Nor is he the Pope or Jesus or Rambo or a white version of Muhammad Ali, even though he’s portrayed or alluded to be all of them.

This is where the No Kings people and the Basket of Gullibles miss the point. The Basket people will accept Trump taking over the power of the purse, starting wars because he feels it in his bones, surround himself with criminals to retaliate against his political rivals, mass pardons of criminals for favor or wealth, an all out assault and shakedown of the media, and turn the Oval Office into a mafia state money and power machine- all because the No Kings people are saying he’s acting like a king, which we all know, he is not a king.; 4/29/26, 8:29 AM
Howard said...: I think most people think of trolls as the little deformed evil creatures that live under small foot Bridges in Scandinavia. I prefer to think of trolling as applied to fishing. Dragging shiny squishy wiggly colorful sparkly objects through the water to attract a hungry fish. You can almost respect a fish that hits on something like live bait or even dead bait because it is actually real food. It's hard to have respect for any fish that bites on an artificial lure.; 4/29/26, 8:32 AM
M Jordan said...: “… trolling is better than consistency.”

Um, it’s a joke, right? Humor often is built on inconsistency.

Your take, Ann, smacks of autism.; 4/29/26, 8:37 AM
wendybar said...: He is having a blast, watching the "tolerant" left melt down....again.; 4/29/26, 8:38 AM
wendybar said...: At least he didn't joke with Queen Camilla that she looks like an expectant widow!!!; 4/29/26, 8:41 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Judging by the last post they're "The Kings of Comedy". I don't think Trump is wearing a bullet proof vest in that photo. Sometimes he'll look "Bulky" and that's the reason.; 4/29/26, 8:42 AM
Howard said...: Camila looks like she escaped from Madame Tussauds Wax Museum; 4/29/26, 8:52 AM
Enigma said...: @Howard --

The original Internet (pre WWW, pre mid 1990s) use of "troll" was indeed a fishing analogy. Throw out an idea and see who bit. Run it up the flag pole and see who saluted. It was stirring the pot. Riling up debate. Twisting the tails of the gullible.

The Internet troll as a metaphorical angry creature under a bridge is a much later reinterpretation.; 4/29/26, 8:58 AM
Howard said...: Thanks, Enigma. Your comment just triggered the sound of a dial-up modem handshake in my head.; 4/29/26, 9:03 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: There's a nice cartoon from the period which shows TR shouting into a megaphone and the word "I" "I" "I" coming out. Which was the view of many at the time. TR was an egomaniac. And his breaking of tradition to get a 3rd term was proof of it.

In rebuttal, TR claimed the tradition was 3 consectitive (Sic) terms. And that he'd only been elected once. So there. FDR just ran for a 3rd term and 4th term as a matter of course. He deserved to be POTUS because...FDR was the greatest man ever.; 4/29/26, 9:04 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: I was surprised to learn Grant tried to run for 3rd term but they refused to nominate him. Sometimes the most mediocre men have the biggest egos. I'm reminded of Jerry "blockhead" Ford not only demanding Reagan let him run unopposed in 76, but attempting to run again in 1980.; 4/29/26, 9:06 AM
narciso said...: They chose hayes; 4/29/26, 9:12 AM
Temujin said...: Trolling the left IS his consistency. (oops, just read the comments and that point has already been made.)
It blows up heads on a daily basis. It is one of his greatest powers.; 4/29/26, 9:15 AM
Peachy said...: meh - the corrupt/ bad data democrat party think of themselves as above kings.
So what is the point?; 4/29/26, 9:19 AM
Tina Trent said...: I wouldn't ennoble the sentiment with the term "consistency."; 4/29/26, 9:24 AM
DarkHelmet said...: The Democrats are hard-wired to oppose and deny every single thing Trump says or does. If he says the sky is blue the leftosphere will erupt with experts explaining how wrong he is.

So this is brilliant. He goes out and says "I'm a king!" and the lefty mob suddenly has to start screaming, "You're not a king, you're not a king!"

The next step is for Trump to tweet a picture of himself receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake.; 4/29/26, 9:26 AM
Jamie said...: RJW, how, truly, is Trump an outlier? "Dictator" - what dissidents are being "disappeared"? What civil rights are being trampled underfoot? Are you missing any? "Surround himself with criminals" - any more so than Biden or Obama? Or are they "criminals" because you don't like them? "Taking over the power of the purse" - you mean EOs? Again, more so than Biden or Obama? "All-out assault and shakedown of the media" that continues to harass, denigrate, and even openly accuse him of crimes and heinous sins at every turn? How are they being "assaulted"? Much less effectively than when the Biden administration made them toe the line, to be sure

For some reason that I still don't understand ten years on, your side appears to consider Trump uniquely bad, despite his acting within the norms (the actual norms, not the platitudes mouthed by politicians about "this is not who we are" as they do all the same things) of every president before him - with one exception: unlike his predecessors, he challenges the global order on behalf of our country. Why should we stay in NATO? Maybe we'll decide that we should - but why is it an unspeakable evil to ask the question? Why should we allow strategically vital products to be made only by nations that are at best unreliable as trade partners, and can become enemies at the drop of a hat? Maybe we'll conclude that there's no good alternative, but why is it so wrong to ask the question?

I mean, maybe it isn't just Trump. Maybe it's just standard Democrat rhetorical escalation: every Republican since Eisenhower has been compared unfavorably to Hitler; maybe that's no longer sufficiently convincing and they - you - have to ratchet up the hysteria such that every Republican president from now on will be "worse than Satan." But sooner or later you run out of... what's the right term? Superlatives of evil?

Yesterday my husband and I had a conversation about you all. Did you actually believe in the natural origin theory of COVID? Or did you know it was a crock the way we did - it beggared belief, come on - but understood that you had to say it anyway?

Or - worst - have you all finally succeeded in becoming what Orwell envisioned: people who can honestly believe that 2+2=5, that we have always been at war with Eurasia, I mean Eastasia, uh, what day is it today? - without the slightest frisson of cognitive dissonance?; 4/29/26, 9:26 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: Some of the King's points were probably far, far too subtle for the audience, but will not be lost on anyone capable of appreciating anyone capable of appreciating subtlety.; 4/29/26, 9:28 AM
Tina Trent said...: Being generally sloppy in appearance, for men, is considered a certain sort of outdated upper-class behavior in British men. But this is a bad look, while Camilla and Melania are both beautifully attired, appropriate to age and status, as is Trump.; 4/29/26, 9:30 AM
ColoComment said...: Whoever writes the Trumpian X posts has a delicious (and wry) sense of humor!

This quote is what came to mind on reading the post. I had only known the first sentence up until now. ...but there's more to it:
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance", Essays: First Series, 1841
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Emerson_and_Wilde_on_consistency; 4/29/26, 9:31 AM
n.n said...: No Kinks; 4/29/26, 9:33 AM
Inga said...: It’s amusing to read comments that think people who don’t like Trump care an iota about him trying to troll anyone. We know what he is and any trolling he attempts to do seems just futile. We don’t care.; 4/29/26, 9:34 AM
Inga said...: It was hilarious seeing Republicans standing and clapping when King Charles spoke about the Executive branch being subject to checks and balances, seeing they gave up their constitutional role as a branch of government that has the authority to do just that.; 4/29/26, 9:41 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Looking at Charles in that picture, he looks better than he did when young. Did he get an ear job?; 4/29/26, 9:53 AM
Kevin said...: t was hilarious seeing Republicans standing and clapping when King Charles spoke about the Executive branch being subject to checks and balances

The debate isn't whether there ARE any, but where and of what type.

You will see this when the Dems eventually take over and resume their government by "pen and phone". They also state their intention to eliminate the filibuster, pack the Court, and unilaterally add more states to the union.

You know, because they believe so much in government by consensus and compromise.; 4/29/26, 10:01 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: You can’t blame the tailor for King Charles sleeping in his bespoke suit. To me, though, the wrinkles look more like he sat in it.; 4/29/26, 10:04 AM
bagoh20 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/29/26, 10:05 AM
bagoh20 said...: " We know what he is and any trolling he attempts to do seems just futile. We don’t care."

That might be the most self unaware thing I've ever read. Trump is on the mind of every Democrat their entire waking hours. Before they have breakfast, they try to guess which he hates more Captain Crunch or Trix, and then eat the whole box.; 4/29/26, 10:06 AM
James K said...: "I was surprised to learn Grant tried to run for 3rd term but they refused to nominate him. Sometimes the most mediocre men have the biggest egos."

Grant was mediocre??? Even his presidency is now widely regarded as great, after decades of smears by leftist historians. Then there was the small matter of the Civil War....; 4/29/26, 10:08 AM
James K said...: "The lady [Inga] doth protest too much, methinks."; 4/29/26, 10:10 AM
Rustygrommet said...: Sir. That is no lady.; 4/29/26, 10:26 AM
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...: King Charles trying to get a wayward adult child nation back on track again.; 4/29/26, 10:43 AM
mezzrow said...: Trolling IS consistency. Consider the source.; 4/29/26, 10:45 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Trolling is in the air these days. "No kings? I'll show you kings." Much more elegant than thumbing your nose at critics, but the same message.; 4/29/26, 10:54 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Grant was a great General. And a mediocre everything else. That's why he was selling farm machinery in 1860.; 4/29/26, 11:09 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Until the 21st Century Grant was usually ranked as one of our lesser Presidents. Sherman once stated he was smarter than Grant and knew more about Adminstration but that "Grant doesn't scare worth a damn". Which is a great quality in a battlefield commander - but of dubious value in a President.; 4/29/26, 11:16 AM
RJW said...: Jamie @ 9:26, your refusal to acknowledge the argument, insistence of comparing Trump as normal and as a victim, and playing the “they all do it” card is one of the reasons I don’t bother trying to rationalize with the cult as I once did.

I gave a short list of how Trump has bypassed or trampled our constitutional norms which is why people say he’s acting as a king. I never mentioned NATO, COVID (which by the way, occurred under Trump’s watch), or the many other distractions you brought up.

Again, Trump is not a king. The argument isn’t a defining word, it’s his actions. You cannot acknowledge those actions because your head is so far up his ass that you can taste the Big Mac.; 4/29/26, 11:27 AM
Rocco said...: n.n said...
“No Kinks”

One for the Roadis their best album, and one of the best live albums ever.; 4/29/26, 11:33 AM