When President Donald Trump rolled into Dearborn — a city neighboring Detroit, now led by its first-ever Black female mayor, Mary Sheffield — he wasn’t exactly greeted with open arms. After a heated exchange with an employee went viral, what happened next left everyone talking.
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The head of state toured Ford Motor’s Dearborn Truck factory on Tuesday to highlight American-made vehicles, promote U.S. manufacturing, tout new jobs from increased production, and discuss trade policies like CUSMA with employees and execs. All well and good…until one employee seemed determined to give the controversial leader a piece of his mind, and didn’t hold back.
When a nearby worker called Trump out, accusing him of being a “pedophile protector,” Trump responded with a middle finger, unapologetically flipping off the employee. In the viral clip, seemingly captured on a cellphone, he appears to mouth, “Fuck you.” And to no one’s surprise, White House communications director, Steven Cheung, backed up his antics.
A “lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” the director stated, per the New York Times.
Meanwhile, Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford told the Detroit Free Press that the visit started off well, and ended with a positive turnout overall. “It’s unfortunate and 99% of the employees in the plant were great and I was embarrassed because we’re the host. But that was six seconds out of an hour tour and the tour went great,” Ford told the Free Press.
According to the Detroit outlet, a UAW Local 600 member was suspended following the viral incident, though details remain under wraps. With no name released, it’s unclear if the suspension was actually for the heckler.
As you may have expected, folks ran knees to chest to the comments section, sounding off on the viral incident.
“Such a pedo protector thing to do,” one fan wrote regarding the federal flip off.
“So ur defending the pedo protector? And not the one calling him out? That speaks volumes,” a second wrote.
“His fingers are so short that it’s difficult to see if he flipped a bird,” another teased.
“The hecklers were right,” a fourth concluded.
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