The Ford autoworker who called out President Donald Trump during his visit to the Michigan auto plant has received overwhelming financial support from the general public as his local union plans to defend him against termination.
TJ Sabula, 40, called the president a “pedophile protector,” and in response, Trump told the worker to “f-ck off” before flipping him the bird in an angry outburst.
TMZ obtained the video, capturing the moment, which was taken while the president was touring Ford’s Rouge River plant in Dearborn on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and now it’s widely circulating online.
In the video, Trump is seen on a level above the floor of the plant, and someone is heard yelling out, “pedophile protector.” Trump suddenly points at the person as others are heard cackling and yelling, and clearly mouths “f-ck you.”
But he wasn’t done. Just before disappearing into another area of the plant, and as a last aside, Trump jabbed his middle finger up and stabbed it toward the heckling worker.
Hours later, the White House Communications Director Steven Cheung tried to downplay the incident without mentioning Trump’s obscenities.
“A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” Cheung said, according to Newsweek.
Social media exploded in disbelief.
“He flipped someone off!! The president of the United States flipped off someone!!! OMG, and he’s going to get away with it!! IMPEACH now!!!” an irate Threads user proclaimed.
Another admitted to doing the same thing. “in all fairness l have flipped him off numerous times. I’m not President Of The United States, though.”
The responses continued, from “Classy” and “That worker is a HERO” to “His little ego” and “People with dementia often lose their filter.”
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Sabula, an assembly line worker at the plant, was suspended from his job, pending further investigation. However, he told the Post that he “definitely” has “no regrets whatsoever” about calling out Trump, although he is concerned about his job being in jeopardy.
However, the United Auto Workers Union issued a statement on Wednesday backing Sabula.
The autoworker at the Dearborn Truck Plant is a proud member of a strong and fighting union —the UAW. He believes in freedom of speech, a principle we wholeheartedly embrace, and we stand with our membership in protecting their voice on the job. The UAW will ensure that our member receives the full protection of all negotiated contract language safeguarding his job and his rights as a union member. Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone—including the President of the United States.
Two of Sabula’s supporters have created online fundraisers that have raised nearly $800,000 as of this writing.
“You’re an inspiration to us all. Thank you for having the courage to say what we are all thinking. May opportunities rain down upon you!” one donor wrote.
“TJ! YOU ARE AWESOME! Stand up people like you are few and far between! You set that orange tinted turd straight! HELL YEAH, BUDDY! Take care and fine job!” another donor wrote.
Sabula fears he will be “targeted for political retribution” for “embarrassing Trump in front of his friends,” he told the Post. The union worker identifies as a political independent and said he has voted for other Republicans in the past, but never for Trump. He decided to “seize the opportunity” that day when Trump stood about 60 feet away from him at the plant in the Detroit suburb.
Part of Trump’s MAGA base is furious with the president over his refusal to release the Epstein files even though he and now-Vice President JD Vance catered to conspiracy theorists during the 2024 president campaign, stoking the belief that disgraced child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did not commit suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019, but was killed and promising to release all the thousands and thousands of government documents in the case if they were elected.
Once in office, however, Trump did everything in his power to prevent the release of the files. Even some Republicans jumped ship to sign a petition to force a vote in the House last November, mandating that the Department of Justice release all Epstein-related documents. When the vote on the bill happened, all the House Republicans except one voted for it, despite GOP leadership’s furious efforts to prevent the vote.
The Senate easily passed the transparency law with broad Republican support, and an unhappy Trump was forced to sign it into law, which required the release of all Epstein-related material by Dec. 19.
That has not happened, and many of the documents that have been released are so heavily redacted that it’s laughable.
Two congressmen, Democrat Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie, have asked a federal judge to appoint an independent third party to oversee the DOJ’s release of the Epstein material, according to CNN.
The agency has until Friday, Jan. 16, to respond in court.
Speculation over why Trump has blocked the release of the files at every turn has run rampant, especially after new photos released last month show show prominent wealthy men hanging out with the convicted sex trafficker during the late 1990s and 2000s including Trump, who was good friends with the financier, former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Prince Andrew and even controversial film director Woody Allen.
