“Trump and Pence must go!” … “These people are anti-science. They talk about ‘alternative facts.'”

On Saturday, April 28 Refuse Fascism found out that the fascist Vice-President Mike Pence was visiting the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Very quickly several Refuse Fascism LA Steering Committee members came together, looked up the information and called for a protest at JPL. We reached out as broadly and quickly as we could to different individuals and organizations that we have been building relationships with, and to media.

We quickly put together a press release and exposed the danger of this anti-scientific lunatic and key operative of the fascist Trump/Pence regime, including the role he plays as the leader of a Christian fascist movement aiming to bolt down a theocratic form of government and society in the U.S.—and what that means for the entire world. We got into his attacks against LGBTQ people; his attacks on women’s rights; his program to roll women back to the Dark Ages; his genocidal program for Black and Brown people in the inner cities and his anti-immigrant xenophobia and what the whole Trump/Pence fascist program represents and the danger this poses for humanity and the planet—including that these forces have their hands on the levers of the most powerful military the world has ever seen. On that basis we reached out to people to confront the danger this poses and the need to oppose this and build a movement to drive out the whole Trump/Pence fascist regime through mass, nonviolent, sustained political protest at the soonest possible time.

People from different organizations came out including Indivisible Suffragettes Sisters, and Pasadena and Altadena Against Police Violence. We were a small crowd, about 20 people, but very loud and very powerful!

We quickly put together our 9-foot banner that says “Trump/Pence Must Go! NO! In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America!” We chanted and agitated about the importance of people being in the streets opposing this fascist agenda! And, what it means that Pence—this Dark Ages lunatic, this anti-scientific fascist—is the chairman of the National Space Council! As the huge motorcade rolled by with Secret Service, Homeland Security, scores of California Highway Patrol, etc. it was truly a scene out of Nazi Germany, except it was modern and happening right now.

Numerous media outlets were out there to film and interview us, including ABC, CBS, Fox News, Telemundo, AP and others.