On Tuesday (Jan. 13), President Donald Trump made an appearance at a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan. That appearance would go off the rails as Trump was spotted on a walkway high above the factory floor. In a video of the incident, someone on the floor yelled out at Trump, “Pedophile protector!!” referring to the obstruction of the release of files related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump stops and glowers toward the person on the floor, pointing at them. “F–k you!” he mouths, striding off in anger. He also appears to mouth “You’re fired” as he approached the end of the walkway, pausing to give the middle finger toward that person and the crowd below. Trump was touring the factory, which makes Ford F-150 pickup trucks, before his speech at the Detroit Economic Club later that evening.
When contacted by the press, White House spokesperson Steven Cheung called Trump’s reaction “appropriate” in a statement. “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” Cheung replied, shying away from commenting on Trump delivering the obscene gesture.
The Ford factory worker who heckled Trump was identified as TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old member of the United Auto Workers Local 600. A spokesperson for Ford confirmed his suspension to TMZ, who first published the video, saying: “When that happens, we have a process to deal with it, but we don’t get into specific personnel matters.”
In an interview with the Washington Post, Sabula stated that he had “definitely no regrets whatsoever” in calling Trump out. “I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity,” Sabula added. “And today I think I did that.” He also said that he felt he was “targeted for political retribution” and was worried about his job security. A GoFundMe campaign was created for Sabula, and as of Wednesday morning (Jan. 14), it has raised $200,000 with 9,000 donors contributing.
