On Tuesday, Donald Trump visited the Ford truck factory in Dearborn, Michigan, and sparked controversy with his gesture. In a video shared by TMZ, the POTUS is seen flipping the middle finger at someone. As heard in the video, the person called him a “pe—-ile protector,” which seemingly triggered the POTUS.
The video showed Trump pointing at a person outside the frame, as he seemingly mouthed “f— you.”. Then, he flashed his middle finger in the person’s direction. The video quickly went viral on social media.
One X (formerly Twitter) account clarified that the person who called the POTUS a “pe—-ile protector” was a Ford worker. “It was a Ford plant worker, and he called him a pe– protector. Did you forget he ran on exposing the Epstein files and deep state arrests?” wrote the user.
🚨#BREAKING: Watch as President Donald Trump raises his middle finger and appears to mouth f*ck you following a shout of your a p*dophile protector from a Ford worker in the plant pic.twitter.com/uZQ0k3cnkX
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 13, 2026
“God bless the Ford worker. Henry Ford himself would have been proud of them. He also would never have let Trump on the property,” wrote another. One user, who seems to be a MAGA fan, wrote, “President Trump’s reaction, while understandable if feeling attacked, falls short of the office’s decorum. We should expect steadier conduct from our leaders, not escalations.”
While many of his loyalists came to his support, critics slammed Trump for his obscene gesture. White House communications director Steven Cheung clarified, “A lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
Meanwhile, David Tovar, a spokesperson for Ford, said on Tuesday, “We’ve seen the clip you’re referring to. One of our core values is respect, and we don’t condone anyone saying anything inappropriate like that within our facilities. When that happens, we have a process to deal with it, but we don’t get into specific personnel matters.”
Meanwhile, the factory worker called out Donald Trump over the Epstein files controversy. His name was mentioned in the recently released documents. According to NBC News, one of the documents included an email that cited some flight logs. According to the logs, Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane at least eight times in the 1990s. The document also claimed that one time, he was on board with a 20-year-old woman, whose name was not mentioned.
Despite his name being mentioned, the POTUS has not been officially accused of any wrongdoing. The Justice Department further claimed that some of the documents released by the department “contain untrue and sensationalist claims.”
