On January 14, 2026, MS NOW’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell spent a significant portion of the program discussing President Trump briefly flipping off a union activist who was heckling him during a factory visit.
Lawrence O’Donnell treated the moment as if it were historic and claimed it revealed something deep and lasting about Trump and the presidency. According to O’Donnell, this is what viewers were supposed to believe:
“TJ Sabula seized history. TJ Sabula provided future historians with a vivid look at who Donald Trump really is. TJ Sabula’s contribution to history is a valuable reveal to future historians about just how small a man Donald Trump is, how weak he is, how uncontrollable his vulgarity is. Presidents throughout history have been yelled at, shot at. They’ve been called murderers and war criminals to their faces. They’ve had their sleep disrupted by protesters outside the White House at night. They’ve had shoes thrown at them. And not one of those presidents gave anyone the finger. When an assassin’s bullet missed Franklin Roosevelt and hit the mayor beside him, he did not turn and give the finger to anyone. George W. Bush ably ducked those shoes and never considered giving the finger to anyone. No president would allow the presidency to sink that low until Donald Trump.”
Start with the idea that this was “history.” TJ Sabula is a Ford worker and union activist who heckled Trump while cameras were rolling. Trump reacted. After that, Sabula allowed the moment to become a fundraising vehicle that brought in over $800,000.
Calling that “history” stretches the word beyond recognition.
Next is the claim that Trump is “weak.” He has been constantly smeared and slandered by the media for a decade. He has been falsely accused, impeached, indicted, and repeatedly investigated. He has been hauled into court over and over, targeted by coordinated lawfare, and subjected to gag orders and court-imposed speech limits. His home was raided by federal law enforcement at Mar-a-Lago. He was spied on during and after his campaign through FISA-related actions, censored and deplatformed by major tech platforms, protested, stalked, and faced assassination attempts. Political opponents have openly tried to bankrupt him, silence him, and put him in prison.
O’Donnell’s claim about “uncontrollable vulgarity” is also exaggerated. Trump didn’t threaten anyone, incite violence, or escalate the situation physically. He made a brief gesture toward someone who was deliberately provoking him. That may offend O’Donnell’s sense of decorum, but it isn’t evidence of being out of control.
O’Donnell also reminded viewers that Americans have a First Amendment right to heckle Trump. That’s true.
What he ignores is that Trump also has the right to respond. Free speech does not require one side to absorb unlimited provocation while the other side is praised, elevated, and financially rewarded for it.
This wasn’t history. It changed nothing about policy, law, or the country. It was a brief human reaction that only became a major story because the media chose to blow it up — and because the person who provoked it went on to raise over $800,000, with the media’s help.
The Last Word didn’t show history — it created the narrative.
Watch On YouTube
Watch On Rumble