President Donald Trump appeared to make an obscene gesture during an appearance on Tuesday.
According to TMZ, the event took place on Tuesday when the president visited a Ford F-150 plant in Michigan before a speech at the Detroit Economic Club.
The report stated that “while walking the factory floor on his tour, someone began shouting at Trump. It’s hard to make out the full sentence shouted at Trump, but it seems to have included the words ‘pedophile protector.'”
“In true presidential fashion, Trump responds by yelling down at the guy … pretty clearly saying “F*** you” before flipping him the bald eagle.
Trump seen flipping off a ford worker who yelled “pedophile protector” during visit — TMZ
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) January 13, 2026
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Once it was in the news, the White House did not deny it was a middle-finger gesture:
Assuming he really was flipping the bird, Trump may be the first-ever sitting president to do so. There was one incident during his first term, in 2017, when Trump appeared to use his middle finger to run a finger through his hair before a meeting, although that may not have been intentional. In 2019, Trump made a similar gesture, also with his hair, while speaking to a pair of female astronauts who had just performed a spacewalk. Both were uploaded as “user-generated” content to C-SPAN’s website. Trump did another similar thing during an international meeting in 2017:
My vote? Juvenile Trump pretended to scratch his temple as an excuse to intentionally give Gentiloni the middle finger while he’s speaking pic.twitter.com/IgbxT8dtEv
— RiotWomenn (@riotwomennn) June 3, 2017
Last year, a creative float was built, in Germany, showing a representation of Trump giving the finger to the world. A painting of Trump giving the middle finger can be purchased from the website Fine Art America, although it’s not clear whether it’s geared towards people who are supporters or opponents of the president.
And in 2017, a woman in Virginia was fired from her job for giving the middle finger to Trump.
Last July, JD Vance flipped the bird during a speech, although he attributed it to “the pink-haired people” who have given the gesture to him.
JD Vance flips the bird on LIVE TV..
“In Washington DC they have this thing and I think it means we’re number one.
All the pink haired people throw up this sign and I think it means we’re number one” pic.twitter.com/Ir1kgjqzpE— JOSH DUNLAP (@JDunlap1974) July 22, 2025
Another president, George W. Bush, once gave the finger before a televised interview, but it was before he was president:
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
