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What we’re talking about at the dinner table
Oh snap: By now you’ve likely heard about the finger that launched a thousand headlines. So, we’ll leave it to The Hill to tell you about Michigan-resident Pete Buttigieg’s response: Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized President Trump for flipping off a factory worker during a tour of a Ford F-150 plant in Michigan this week, but he said it was consistent with Trump’s policies toward the industry’s workforce. The worker, 40-year-old TJ Sabula, shouted at the president during his walk through the factory on Tuesday, calling him a “pedophile protector.” In response, Trump mouthed “f‑‑‑ you” twice and raised his middle finger to the worker. During a talk at the Detroit Auto Show on Wednesday, Buttigieg responded to a question about his views on the incident.
“President Trump did literally what I believe he’s been doing figuratively for some time, which is give autoworkers the finger,” Buttigieg said.
About that finger: A Glengariff Group poll that dropped the same day as Trump’s Detroit visit showed DJT’s popularity is underwater in Michigan. The survey commissioned by The Detroit News shows Trump is viewed favorably by only 38% of voters and unfavorably by 51%. Glengariff pollster Richard Czuba told Rick the finger-flipping moment crystalized why Trump is struggling and the challenge facing Michigan Republicans this year. Trump is essentially in the same position vis a vis the economy as then-President Joe Biden was and handling it the same way. “He stood before the people of Michigan and said, ‘Everything’s great.’ He literally did the exact same thing Joe Biden said two years ago and it was a huge mistake. But the moment that really captured my imagination and I think a lot of people’s was when he flipped off the auto worker,” Czuba said. No doubt Republican candidates will be asked to weigh in on the President’s words and actions while Democrats strive to make that single-finger salute the state bird (at least through the end of 2026).
DENIED: The Michigan Court of Appeals has refused a request from a cannabis industry group to bypass a lower court and directly consider its challenge to the state’s new wholesale marijuana tax. In December, Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel declined to put the tax on hold while challenges make their way through the courts. A bypass of the lower court would have sped up the legal process in a case where timing matters (the tax took effect January 1st). But the questions are so new, higher courts may want a thorough airing of the arguments before considering specific issues on appeal. The three-judge panel gave no signal of its thinking in a terse order that said, “The application for leave to appeal is DENIED for failure to persuade the Court of the need for immediate appellate review.”
