{"id":2537838,"date":"2026-01-15T12:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T17:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fundraisers-for-worker-whom-trump-flipped-off-near-1-million\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T17:12:31","slug":"fundraisers-for-worker-whom-trump-flipped-off-near-1-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fundraisers-for-worker-whom-trump-flipped-off-near-1-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundraisers for worker whom Trump flipped off near $1 million"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffundraisers-for-worker-whom-trump-flipped-off-near-1-million%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2537838&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A former Ford worker,40-year-old TJ Sabula,was suspended without pay after heckling President Donald Trump during a visit to the Ford River Rouge complex in Dearborn; video released by TMZ shows Sabula shouting that Trump is a &#8220;pedophile protector&#8221; and Trump responding by flipping him off. Two GoFundMe campaigns have raised at least $810,000 combined (about $330,000 and $480,000) from nearly 35,000 donors to support sabula, a father of two; one fundraiser had to change its cover image to comply with platform rules. Ford says it is reviewing the exchange, while the UAW has <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >defended free speech<\/a> at the workplace and has not suspended Sabula from the union.Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Rashida Tlaib and rep.Shri Thanedar voiced support for Sabula and criticized Trump, while Sen. Rand Paul cautioned that workplace speech can have consequences even if protected by the First Amendment.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Fundraisers for Detroit worker whom Trump flipped off near $1 million<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2471684\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4419067\/uaw-detroit-worker-trump-flipped-off\/\">former Ford employee<\/a> who was suspended after heckling President Donald Trump is set to receive at least $810,000 through fundraisers on his behalf.<\/p>\n<p>TJ Sabula, 40, was in attendance during Trump&rsquo;s tour of the Ford River Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, on Wednesday when the incident occurred. As Trump walked above the work site, Sabula shouted that he was a &ldquo;pedophile protector.&rdquo; The exchange was caught on camera and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/01\/13\/trump-flips-off-ford-worker\/\">released by <em>TMZ<\/em><\/a>. Trump responded by flipping off Sabula.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4419067\/uaw-detroit-worker-trump-flipped-off\/\">UAW backs Detroit worker whom Trump flipped off<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4417965\/trump-robots-big-factor-ford-vacancies\/\">Trump hypes robots as &#8216;big factor&#8217; as Ford struggles to fill thousands of vacancies<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4417515\/wall-street-powell-doj-investigation\/\">Wall Street executives back Powell as DOJ investigates Fed chairman: &#8216;Not a good idea&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Ford suspended Sabula while the company reviews the exchange. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-ford-worker-tj-sabula-during-suspension\">According to one fundraiser<\/a>, Sabula was suspended without pay and is a father to two children.<\/p>\n<p>As of Thursday morning, one GoFundMe campaign raised over $330,000, and a second <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/tj-sabula-is-a-patriot\">raised over $480,000<\/a> for Sabula. Nearly 35,000 donors have participated in both fundraisers.<\/p>\n<p>One fundraiser included a screenshot of Trump&rsquo;s middle finger. In an update, the organizer wrote that GoFundMe &ldquo;asked to change the cover photo to align with GoFundMe community policies.&rdquo; A new picture was uploaded with a bird covering Trump&rsquo;s hand.<\/p>\n<p>Sabula has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-tom-carper-announces-bill-to-give-d-c-statehood\/\" title=\"Sen. Tom Carper announces bill to give D.C. statehood\">received support<\/a> from Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), who shared the video on X.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s right. The president is, in fact, protecting pedophiles,&rdquo; Tlaib wrote on Wednesday. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t come to my district and expect a warm welcome. Release the Epstein files!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">He&#8217;s right. The president is, in fact, protecting pedophiles.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t come to my district and expect a warm welcome.<\/p>\n<p>Release the Epstein files! <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bdiplUk8ZU\">https:\/\/t.co\/bdiplUk8ZU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepRashida\/status\/2011457762694410459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 14, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) expressed hope that Sabula would get his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/walsh-nick-cannon-gets-his-job-back-after-calling-white-people-savages-this-is-how-real-privilege-works\/\" title=\"WALSH: Nick Cannon Gets His Job Back After Calling White People \u2018Savages.\u2019 This Is How Real Privilege Works.\">job back<\/a> in an<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepShriThanedar\/status\/2011523830590947535?s=20\"> X post <\/a>on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;TJ Sabula, my constituent &amp; a UAW worker, has been suspended after Trump flipped HIM off and said &ldquo;F*** you&rdquo; to him. This is unacceptable. NEVER believe MAGA when they cry about the 1st amendment,&rdquo; Thanedar <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepShriThanedar\/status\/2011456354985398310?s=20\">wrote<\/a>. &ldquo;Since Trump can&rsquo;t fire me, I&rsquo;ll say it: Donald Trump is a pedophile protector.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pointed out that the freedom of speech allotted by the First Amendment is not applicable in every situation. He reacted to the video on <em>Piers Morgan Uncensored<\/em> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;People think that freedom of speech means you can say anything you want, anywhere you want, but if you work for me and I&rsquo;m Mr. Ford and I say you have to behave with decorum, whether it&rsquo;s President Obama or President Trump, I&rsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-anyone-more-annoying-or-treacherous-than-barack-obama\/\" title=\"Is Anyone More Annoying or Treacherous than Barack Obama?\">ll fire<\/a> your ass if you&rsquo;re not polite and you need to be polite,&rdquo; Paul said. &ldquo;At your workplace, you&rsquo;ve got to. You do not have freedom of speech to call your boss a knucklehead.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Paul stopped short of condemning the president for the hand gesture.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Whether the president was inappropriate or not, I&rsquo;m not going to make a judgment on it. I wasn&rsquo;t there, I didn&rsquo;t hear it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I think it&rsquo;s a useful lesson about speech that you can say anything you want, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-and-harris-paths-to-2024-win-may-rest-on-arizona-ballot-measures-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"... and Harris paths to 2024 win may rest on Arizona ballot measures - Washington Examiner\">government shouldn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t put you in jail, but your employer has no obligation to keep you on if you&rsquo;re rude when you&rsquo;ve invited the president to your business.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5PMuXgU09vA?si=EFj0cdOTMj_t8cdN\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>    <\/p>\n<p>United Auto Workers Vice President Laura Dickerson said the union, of which Sabula is a member, &ldquo;wholeheartedly embraces&rdquo; freedom of speech at the workplace.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/3846407\/republican-investigation-california-palisades-eaton-fires-charity-funds\/\"><strong>REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO CALIFORNIA FIRE CHARITY FUNDS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Workers should never be subjected to vulgar language or behavior by anyone&mdash;including the President of the United States,&rdquo; Dickerson <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/uaw-newsroom.prgloo.com\/press-release\/statement-on-ford-plant-visit-from-vp-laura-dickerson-ford-department-director\">said in a statement<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>UAW has not suspended Sabula from the union, as it reserves that right under<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/uaw.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Updated-2022-Constitution-8.30.23.pdf\"> its constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Detroit worker&#8217;s fundraisers near $1M after Trump flip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2631,"featured_media":2537839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26013667056741.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32319,4303,14142,33462,71022],"class_list":["post-2537838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-donald-trump","tag-donations","tag-gofundme","tag-viral-video","tag-worker-support"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26013667056741.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2537838"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2537842,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2537838\/revisions\/2537842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2537838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2537838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2537838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}