$250K Raised for Factory Worker Flipped Off by Trump

TJ Sabula said he was suspended from job at Ford in wake of incident
Posted Jan 14, 2026 9:48 AM CST
$250K Raised for Factory Worker Who Heckled Trump
Seen through a viewfinder, President Trump speaks at the Detroit Economic Club, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026 in Detroit.   (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

The Ford truck plant worker in Michigan who insulted President Trump on Tuesday and apparently got flipped off in response tells the Washington Post he has been suspended from his job pending an investigation. The heckler identified himself as TJ Sabula, a 40-year-old United Auto Workers Local 600 line worker. He confirmed he was referencing how Trump has handled "the Epstein matter," as the Post puts it, when he shouted "pedophile protector" from about 60 feet away.

"As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever," Sabula tells the paper, though he admitted he is worried about the future of his job and suggested he was "targeted for political retribution" for "embarrassing Trump in front of his friends." (Trump was joined on the tour by executive chair Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley.) A GoFundMe campaign started to support Sabula might ease some of those concerns.

It has raised $250,000 as of this writing, with this campaign message: "Please help us raise funds for patriot TJ Sabula!! TJ was suspended from his job at the Ford Automotive Company for correctly calling President Donald J Trump a Pedophile Protector!! Let's rally and support TJ and help him pay some bills (and force DJT to release the Trump/Epstein Files)."

The Detroit Free Press reports it asked a Ford rep about a video clip of the exchange, and got this response: "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."

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