A Ford employee who was suspended from his job after a tense exchange with President Donald Trump during a visit to a Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan, on Tuesday, has amassed more than $130K in donations after he was suspended from his job by Ford.
Trump was touring the Ford River Rouge complex, a major auto assembly facility, when the incident occurred. The visit was part of his broader trip to Michigan and was meant to focus on American manufacturing and factory jobs.
Video footage from tour showed the President seemingly mouthing "f* you"** and raised his middle-finger gesture at a heckler on the factory floor after the latter called him a "pedophile protector."
The worker, later identified as TJ Sabula, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by Ford.
Sabula, a line worker with United Auto Workers Local 600 at the Ford plant, said he was standing about 60 feet away from Trump and believed the president could hear him "very, very, very clearly," adding that he had "no regrets.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended Trump's reaction, calling it an "appropriate and unambiguous response" to what he described as a heckler "wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage."
The phrase "pedophile protector" is tied to ongoing public criticism of Trump's associations and past controversies related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The remark by Sabula highlights the political tensions present during the visit.
In the wake of Sabula's suspension, a GoFundMe page was created for the former Ford employee with the caption "TJ Sabula is a patriot." The fundraiser has already collected $130,143 in donations as of print.
The page's description reads, "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) LFG!!"
Sabula identifies as a political independent and said he has never voted for Trump, although he has supported other Republican candidates in the past.
For now, TJ Sabula remains suspended from Ford as the internal investigation continues, while the viral video of the president's reaction continues to attract attention online.
