Chris Kluwe, a former NFL punter, was arrested on Tuesday in Huntington Beach for his protest during a meeting of the city council that targeted President Trump’s influence.
Kluwe protested at a meeting of the city council against the decision by the city to display a plaque that reads “Magical,” ‘Alluring,” ‘Galvanizing,” & “Adventurous”, which spells out MAGA.
All city council members are Republicans.
During the public comment, Kluwe, a former punter for the Minnesota Vikings, directed his comments at the seven members. He said it was clear the council didn’t want to listen to him, so he was instead going to use his speaking time to “say what MAGA has stood for” over the last month of Trump’s second term.
“MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for resegregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing. MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal. MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children,” Kluwe said.
“MAGA is deeply corrupt, unmistakably an anti-democracy movement, and most importantly, MAGA explicitly is a Nazi Movement,” he said, earning applause. “You might have changed a swastika for a red cap, but it’s still the same thing.”
Kluwe, 43 years old, said that he would engage in the “time-honored American tradition” of peaceful civil disobedience.
The punter-turned-activist walked on the council floor and toward the council members, prompting law enforcement officials to place him in handcuffs and carry him out of the establishment.
Kluwe played in the NFL between 2005 and 2013. He wrote an op/ed in which he claimed he had been released by the Vikings for speaking out against same-sex relationships and criticizing the Catholic church. The NFL team denied that he was released due to his personal views.
