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Mike Pence Is Speaking In Chicago Friday & Some Chicagoans Plan To Protest

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 27, 2016 6:17PM

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets Indiana Gov. Mike Pence at the Grand Park Events Center on July 12, 2016. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, also known as the governor who made Indiana worse, is hosting a Republican fundraising luncheon in Chicago on Friday with the help of Gov. Bruce Rauner and other Illinois Republicans.

The Chicago Club at 81 E. Van Buren St. is hosting the $2,700 per ticket event, according to the Sun-Times. And for $10,000 a pop, a couple can attend, have lunch for two, and take a photo with Pence, while $33,400 VIP tickets per couple will also include a roundtable meeting.

Though Rauner made an effort to distance himself from President-elect Donald Trump before the election, he has since spoken with Trump on the phone and is now collaborating with Pence on this fundraiser. As we've pointed out in the past, those concerned about Trump's lack of policy experience, his xenophobic, hateful rhetoric, his denial of science and his attitudes toward women should be equally concerned about Pence.

With that in mind, a group of Chicagoans is planning a protest for outside the Chicago Club during Pence's luncheon. Protesters wrote on Facebook that they will gather at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 30 outside the Van Buren Street building to send a message to luncheon attendees that "We Will Not Accept a Fascist America!"

Pence is an LGBTQ hating Christian fascist. He tried to divert HIV/AIDS money to fund conversion therapy. He wants to ban ALL abortions AND deny birth control. As Governor of Indiana, he signed legislation that mandated funerals for aborted fetuses. The Trump/Pence regime will mean nationwide Stop and Frisk and further militarization of the War on Drugs, and they brag about using torture, launching a nuclear arms race, and so much more. Pence is a longtime, and very dangerous, operative of the Christian Right which wants to institute a theocratic state in the US. According to Jeremy Scahill, "Pence will be the most powerful Christian supremacist in US history." Say NO!

The Facebook event also notes that protesters are planning a similar political protest at 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve, outside Trump Tower, similar to previous Trump Tower protests.