DEARBORN, Michigan – Brian Pannebecker has gotten pretty used to being called onstage by President Donald Trump.
Trump once spotted him at a Michigan rally and summoned the muscular retired Ford worker into the spotlight. They’ve shared handshakes, photos, and trips to Washington. Pannebecker also stood in the White House Rose Garden as Trump announced sweeping tariffs, one of the president’s signature economic moves in his second term.
Retired autoworker Brian Pannebecker speaks as President Donald Trump listens during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Retired autoworker Brian Pannebecker speaks as President Donald Trump listens during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Pannebecker has pictures to prove how close he’s gotten to the center of Trump’s orbit: Smiling alongside former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff.
Now, the longtime Trump supporter has something else to add to the scrapbook — a federal job. Pannebecker, who spent decades in the auto industry and most recently worked at Ford Motor Co.’s Sterling Axle Plant, was recently named a special government employee and special envoy for auto workers at the Department of Transportation.
The title may sound formal, yet Pannebecker describes how he got it in much more casual terms.
“The guy who got me my job at DOT is President Trump,” he told the Washington Examiner. Pannebecker said Trump created the position specifically to serve as a voice for auto workers, making him the first person to hold the job.
“It was a job position that was created by President Trump, and I’m the first person to hold that position, so I feel a pretty big sense of responsibility,” he said.
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (L) and Brian Pannebecker (R). (Courtesy: Brian Pannebecker)
" data-large-file="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image1-9-rotated.jpeg?w=480" src="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image1-9-rotated.jpeg?w=480" alt="Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pictured (left) with Brian Pannebecker (right)." class="wp-image-4778642" srcset="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image1-9-rotated.jpeg 480w, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image1-9-rotated.jpeg?resize=225,300 225w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px">
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (left) and Brian Pannebecker (right). (Photo provided by Brian Pannebecker)
The job is still taking shape, as Pannebecker calls it a “work in progress,” with responsibilities developing in real time and with his input.
“We’re sort of forming the outlines of what my responsibilities are now, right now, and I have a lot of input to that,” he said. “So it’s kind of broad, broad-ranging.”
That might be fitting for someone whose path to the federal government has been anything but conventional.
Pannebecker isn’t a career Washington bureaucrat. He is a retired auto worker who became one of Trump’s most enthusiastic Michigan surrogates, helping the president court the workers who once formed the backbone of the Democratic Party.
He founded Auto Workers for Trump and has become a familiar face at Trump rallies, where the president has repeatedly called him out from the crowd.
On Sunday, when Trump returns to Michigan to rally for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers and other Republicans, Pannebecker will be there again. This time, he’ll arrive with about 30 other auto workers. And yes, he expects the president may call him up.
“You never know with President Trump,” Pannebecker said. “But I’m expecting he’ll probably call me up on stage.”
He doesn’t seem particularly nervous about the prospect.
“I’m passionate and sincere, and I believe every word I say about him,” Pannebecker said. “So I’m trying to help them in any way I can.”
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff (L), and Brian Pannebecker. (Courtesy: Pannebecker)
" data-large-file="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image0-13-rotated.jpeg?w=480" src="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image0-13-rotated.jpeg?w=480" alt="Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, is pictured with Brian Pannebecker. (Photo provided by Brian Pannebecker)" class="wp-image-4778643" srcset="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image0-13-rotated.jpeg 480w, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image0-13-rotated.jpeg?resize=225,300 225w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px">
Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff (left), and Brian Pannebecker (right). (Photo provided by Brian Pannebecker)
That loyalty has made Pannebecker a political curiosity in Michigan, a state where Trump has made significant gains among working-class voters while Democrats continue to rely heavily on organized labor.
It has also given Pannebecker a front-row seat to one of the biggest issues for Michigan’s auto industry: Trump’s trade war.
Michigan shares more than a border with Canada. The two economies are deeply intertwined, particularly when it comes to automobiles. Cars and parts cross the Detroit River and the U.S.-Canada border repeatedly before vehicles ever reach a showroom.
Pannebecker nevertheless believes Trump’s tariffs will ultimately benefit Michigan workers by forcing more manufacturing into the United States. He acknowledges that the policy has complicated a relationship that, for many Michiganders, is deeply personal.
“Politically and socially, Canada is our ally and our friend,” Pannebecker said. “We protect them.”
He pointed out that Canadians have long depended on the U.S. for national security and that plenty of Michigan families have friends and relatives on the other side of the border.
“We’re right here on the border, so we view them as our friends and allies,” he said.
Then there is the auto industry. Pannebecker brought up Chrysler’s minivans, a vehicle he knows personally. His wife owned three of them when their children were young, he said.
“They were great vehicles,” he recalled.
The problem, from his perspective, is where those vehicles were built. Many of Chrysler’s minivans have been produced at the company’s plant in Windsor, Ontario, just across the Detroit River from Michigan. Pannebecker sees Trump’s tariffs as a way to change that calculation, even if it makes Canadians unhappy.
“Trump’s tariffs are forcing them to consider moving that production into the United States, so that they can continue to sell their vehicles here in the United States profitably,” he said.
He acknowledged that prospect is hardly welcome news in Windsor.
“They’re going to be losing some jobs,” Pannebecker said, but he’s willing to accept that trade-off.
“Like President Trump always says, he’s the president of America, and he’s putting America first,” Pannebecker said. “He’s not the premier of Canada, and he’s concerned about American jobs.”
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It’s an argument Pannebecker has been making for years from factory floors and rally stages.
Now he gets to make it from inside the federal government.
On Sunday, he’ll return to the rally circuit, this time as something more than a retired Ford worker carrying a Trump sign. And if the president points to the crowd and gives him the familiar invitation to come onstage, Pannebecker will be ready.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
