The Ford line worker who shouted at President Trump during a plant visit has gone from facing a suspension to watching strangers on the internet stack more than three quarters of a million dollars in his name. What started as a raw, seconds-long exchange on a factory floor has turned into a sprawling GoFundMe wave, with donations topping $750,000 and climbing into the $800,000 range before the main campaign was paused. Along the way, the story of Thomas “TJ” Sabula has become a shorthand for how fast outrage, solidarity, and money can move in American politics right now.
The flashpoint on the Ford floor
The confrontation that set all of this in motion unfolded inside the Ford Rouge complex in Dearborn, where President Trump was touring the facility and greeting workers. During that walkthrough, video captured Trump apparently raising his middle finger toward a worker after an insult, an exchange that later clips showed from inside the Ford Rouge plant. The worker on the receiving end of that gesture was identified as TJ Sabula, a union-backed auto worker at Ford Motor Co, who had shouted at the president as the tour moved through the line.
Sabula later told reporters he was the person yelling at Trump during the Michigan visit and that he was suspended while the company investigated what happened. In his account, he said he had called the president a “pedophile protector” in front of his friends, a taunt that drew an immediate response from Trump and then a disciplinary move from his employer, which treated the outburst as a workplace conduct issue. Sabula, a 40 year veteran of the line according to supporters, suddenly found himself at the center of a national argument over respect for the presidency, free speech on the job, and how far a company can go when politics spills onto the factory floor.
From suspension to viral GoFundMe
Once word spread that Sabula had been pulled off the job, his supporters moved quickly to turn outrage into financial backing. A longtime friend launched a GoFundMe page that framed the effort as a way to help a suspended worker cover his bills and send a message about standing up to Trump. Within roughly a day, Supporters had poured in more than $500K, with the campaign describing Sabula as a 40-year-old line worker and UAW member who had spoken his mind on the line. The early surge was so intense that organizers highlighted how quickly the total crossed the $500 mark and then kept racing upward.
As the story ricocheted across social media and cable news, additional GoFundMe efforts appeared, all tied to the same confrontation and suspension. One widely shared tally noted that GoFundMe campaigns had raised over $800,000 for the suspended Ford employee, a figure that captured both the scale of the backlash and the speed at which small-dollar donations can snowball when politics and personality collide. Another snapshot put the total at more than $230K in financial support at an earlier point, as an Instagram post described how, during a tour of Ford, the president was confronted and the worker’s suspension followed.
How the money kept climbing
Once the GoFundMe link started circulating, the numbers became their own storyline. One update highlighted that campaigns tied to the suspended worker had already cleared $700,000, with one tally pegging the total at over $700,000 raised and counting from more than 18,000 people. Another report noted that donations for the suspended Ford worker had topped $800,000, with the main GoFundMe page showing a flood of small contributions and messages of support for Sabula and his family. The sheer volume of donors turned what might have been a local labor dispute into a national barometer of anger at Trump and sympathy for a rank-and-file worker.
By the time the dust started to settle, one detailed breakdown put the total raised for Sabula at more than $736,000, while another described how GoFundMe campaigns had pushed past the $800,000 mark. A separate snapshot on social media had earlier cited more than $230 in financial support, a figure that underscored just how fast the totals were updating as new donors clicked in. Through it all, the core pitch stayed the same: Sabula, identified as a UAW member and 40-year-old line worker, had been suspended for heckling the president, and supporters wanted to make sure his mortgage and medical bills were covered while he waited to see what Ford would do next.
Sabula’s response and a paused campaign
As the totals climbed, Sabula himself stepped forward to shape what happened next. In a message shared with donors, he thanked people for the outpouring of support and made clear that the money would go toward his family’s needs and any fallout from the suspension. At the same time, he signaled that there was a limit to how much he was comfortable accepting. After the main GoFundMe crossed the $800K line, Sabula and his backers hit pause, with an update explaining that, after reaching After $800K, TJ Sabula was urging people to donate to other causes instead.
The pause came with a mix of gratitude and a bit of disbelief at how quickly things had escalated. The campaign page, which had drawn 44 shares, 84 comments and a flood of small-dollar gifts, now carried a note from Sabula thanking everyone who had contributed and nudging future donors toward charities and community groups. In that message, he was identified by his full name, Thomas “TJ” Sabula, and the tone suggested a worker who had not expected to become a national symbol, much less the focus of a six-figure fundraising blitz. For donors, the pause was framed less as a shutdown than a pivot, a way to acknowledge that the immediate crisis for one family had been addressed while plenty of other fights were still out there.
Politics, workplace rules, and what comes next
Behind the viral fundraising and viral video is a more complicated fight over how politics plays out on the job. Ford has said it does not tolerate behavior like shouting insults at a visiting dignitary within its facilities, and the company moved to suspend Sabula while it reviewed what happened. A White House spokesperson backed Trump’s reaction, with communications director Steven Cheung saying, “And the President gave an appropriate and unambiguous response,” as the administration defended the president’s middle finger and the company’s right to enforce its rules inside Ford plants. Legal experts have noted that private employers generally have wide latitude to discipline workers for conduct on the clock, even when that conduct is political speech.
On the other side, Sabula’s union and allies have framed the suspension as an overreaction and a warning sign about how dissent is treated when the president shows up at a workplace. Union representatives have publicly backed Sabula, with one account describing how he told The Washington Post that he had traded insults with Trump and was now facing a suspension in front of his friends. Another report from Michigan highlighted how the suspended Michigan autoworker had become a symbol for people angry at Trump’s behavior and eager to show that a rank-and-file worker would not be left to fend for himself. As commentators like Jamie L. LaReau, Ben Solis and others have tracked the fallout, the Sabula saga has turned into a case study in how a single shouted phrase on a factory floor can ripple through national politics, corporate policy, and the online donor class all at once.
Supporting sources: Suspended Ford worker.
More from Wilder Media Group: