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'Chicago Fire' Star Monica Raymund Seeks Unity With Trump Supporters

By David Matthews | November 18, 2016 3:48pm | Updated on November 25, 2016 10:24am
 The "Chicago Fire" star is greeting Trump supporters in an effort to show that "hate and bigotry are nonpartisan issues."
Monica Raymund Sits With Trump Supporters Near Trump Tower
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DOWNTOWN — "Chicago Fire" star Monica Raymund spent her Friday afternoon talking politics with Donald Trump supporters. 

Raymund, a Clinton supporter and queer Latina, said she "checks all the boxes" of groups afraid of Trump's often controversial campaign rhetoric. 

But she's popping up near the Trump International Hotel & Tower this weekend to sit with Trump supporters in a show of unity. 

"My goal is to remind people that what we have in common are nonviolent forms of expression; that hate and bigotry are nonpartisan issues," she said.

Raymund is setting up two folding chairs — one for her and another for a guest — across the river from Trump Tower near the Wabash Bridge for the pop-up political forums. She arrived at 2 p.m. Friday and will tweet the times for Saturday and Sunday's talks an hour in advance. 

Instead of throngs of "Chicago Fire" fans, Raymund was met Friday with a slow stream of people who said they voted for Trump. One man Raymund interviewed didn't even know who she or "Chicago Fire" was. 

The first man Raymund interviewed Friday was Terry Coxworth, 63, of Lakeview. 

Coxworth calls himself a political moderate who has voted for Democrats in the past. But he thought that Trump would be tougher on crime than Clinton. 

Coxworth heard about Raymund's talks Thursday night on NBC. He watches "Chicago Fire" every Tuesday, but wasn't too starstruck after his powwow with Raymund.

"She sees so many people," he said. 

The conversations were somewhat akin to political debates, with Raymund asking her guests for their views on topics including abortion and Trump's controversial comments about Mexican immigrants. Though the conversations were about serious, often divisive topics, Raymund and her guests were polite throughout. Occasionally Raymund and her guests found common ground.

"What do you think about people in this country who are criminals and rapists?" Raymund asked Coxworth.

"I don't like them either," he said.

"I think we can all agree on that," Raymund said.


Raymund and friends discuss which posters to use at Friday's pop-up. [All photos by DNAinfo/David Matthews]

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