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Photos: Protesters Greet Trump At High Dollar Fundraiser In Illinois

By aaroncynic in News on Sep 28, 2016 9:22PM

After spending a hefty amount of time commenting on Chicago without spending time in its neighborhoods, Republican presidential contender Donald Trump made a quick visit to the Far North Side before heading to suburban Bolingbrook for a high dollar fundraiser.

In both cases, the carnival barker and right wing demagogue wasn’t exactly given a warm welcome by Chicago area residents.

Vandals spraypainted “fuck Trump” on the front of the Polish National Alliance, where Trump gave a 17-minute speech Wednesday morning.

“I will be the greatest president for jobs that God has ever created," Trump told attendees in his characteristic aggrandizement.

Trump, the mascot of the xenophobic carnival that refers to itself as the “alt right” then headed to suburban Bolingbrook, where demonstrators and a few supporters lined the street across from the Country Club where attendees shelled out anywhere between $1,000 and $250,000 to catch a glimpse of him.

For two hours, demonstrators spoke, chanted and waved signs denouncing Trump. A smaller group of supporters materialized nearby and though there were some heated debates, there were no instances of violence or any arrests.



“If you look around and see all the people here, nobody’s hating each other,” said Mark Duvell. “ Even though there’s Trump supporters here, there’s no beefs. Why is, whenever he’s somewhere speaking, all that rage and hate comes out? It’s because that’s what he represents.”

“I’m a cigarette-smoking, beer-drinking, red-blooded American,” he added. “I do not subscribe to conservative consensus, nor do I agree with liberal loathing. I’m entitled nothing but freedom and a fair shake."

As a nearby brass band played “Another Brick In The Wall” by Pink Floyd and the Imperial March from Star Wars, Nicki Serbin said Trump represents the “ugly side of the nation.” “Misogyny, Xenophobia…”As the mother of a little girl I know better than to allow like that. I refuse to let my daughter have a president that judges women based on their attractiveness, and not their behavior.”

While protesters heavily outnumbered Trump supporters, several gathered a few feet down the line of protesters with large “Trump” and American flags.

“He doesn’t realize how many supporters he has,” said Stuart Finley, an Oswego resident. “There’s a lot of people that support him that are afraid to publicly show their support for fear of being verbally or physically abused by some anarchist, socialist or liberal.”

Finley said he threw his support behind Trump after he made the decision to skip out on his scheduled rally at UIC in March, which he dubbed the “UIC riot.”

Another Trump supporter, who identified himself only as “Jeff,” said he supported Trump’s wall, and that it's totally not racist at all.

“Look at all these illegals coming over here with all kinds of felonies and drugs and guns dominating the streets,” he told reporters. “Look at Chicago—Chiraq. There’s more killings in Chicago than anywhere overseas.”