On Tuesday, Donald Trump received an unwelcome reception at Ford’s Michigan plant when a factory worker called him a ‘pe—hile protector.’ The President had an equally fierce reaction, giving the worker the middle finger and mouthing swear words.
The White House has now responded to the incident and, as expected, defended the POTUS. In a statement released to the press, White House communications director Steven Cheung remarked that Trump gave an appropriate response to a ‘lunatic.’
The statement read, “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
Legend: President Donald Trump raises his middle finger and appears to mouth “f*ck you” to a low IQ Ford heckler in the plant. 😂 pic.twitter.com/tN8w2wHguN
— John Cremeans (@JohnCremeansX) January 14, 2026
The video of the incident was first released by TMZ and has since gone viral on social media. On the afternoon of January 13, Trump paid a visit to Ford’s River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan.
As he chatted with the autoworkers and posed for pictures with some of them, a 40-year-old employee, identified as TJ Sabula, started shouting ‘p—hile protector.’
The video shows Trump getting visibly angry and mouthing ‘F— you’ twice before showing his middle finger to the worker and storming off. Ford has maintained that it does not support inappropriate behavior on its premises and has suspended the worker.
Sabula, however, has no regrets about his actions, as he said in a conversation with The Washington Post, “As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever.” He is, in fact, happy that he got the opportunity to call out Trump.
Sabula stated, “I don’t feel as though fate looks upon you often, and when it does, you better be ready to seize the opportunity. And today I think I did that.”
And while the White House has defended the President for his anger, netizens have other opinions. As the clip started doing rounds on the internet, social media users started slamming the 79-year-old for his unparliamentary language and gestures.
One person wrote, “Real leadership: giving the middle finger to an American worker who dares call out your Epstein ties. Classy as ever, Don.”
Another posted, “I don’t care what the person said, if you are the President of the United States and your skin is this thin, you are not in a suitable position to lead the country. You legit just came into the heart of automobile manufacturing a flipped off a factory worker.”
This is the essence of political hypocrisy: Donald Trump posture as a bold supporter of protesters challenging the Iranian regime, yet when faced with a domestic protester referencing Jeffrey Epstein, his response is a crude middle finger.
— Jawad🍁 (@JawadShabbirPTI) January 14, 2026
One also supported the worker and wrote, “Those workers got him elected, they had real hope to make America great again. But Trump isn’t here for the common American people, he’s only here to protect his elite pe—hile friends.”
The incident happened at a time when the Trump administration is under fire for not declassifying the complete Epstein Files. According to a law passed by Congress, all documents related to the convicted s– offender and pe–phile had to be released to the public by December 19, 2025.
However, the DOJ has dropped only 1% of the files so far and has been accused of protecting Trump, who had a years-long friendship with Epstein before the details of his crimes came out.
