Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was arrested Tuesday night after speaking out in protest at a Huntington Beach City Council meeting. The California resident had voiced his disgust against a proposal to mark the 50th anniversary of the Huntington Beach Central Library with a plaque adorned with Trumpist kitsch. He spent the rest of his allotted time detailing what the MAGA movement actually represents.
"Unfortunately, it's clear that this council does not listen, so instead, I'm going to take my time to say what MAGA has stood for these past three weeks," Kluwe said, delivering a long list of righteous complaints.
"Most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement," he concluded, to applause from the crowd. "You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is." Kluwe then said he would "engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience," taking a few steps forward before he was restrained by three cops. He refused to walk out, and people attending the meeting cheered as he was carried off the floor.
Kluwe was charged with the misdemeanor of disturbing an assembly, and has a court date in April. The plaque, which the all-Republican city council unanimously approved after his arrest, features the words "Magical Alluring Galvanizing Adventurous" on it, along with the following statement: "Through hope and change our nation has built back better to the golden era of Making America Great Again!" This comma-free politicization of a library is noxious and embarrassing, though entirely on brand for that stronghold of Orange County kooks, who elected world-historic moron Tito Ortiz in 2020. (He resigned in less than a year.)
In an interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid on Wednesday, Kluwe spoke at length about why he felt motivated to protest. "What do you make of this fixation the right has on trans people?" Reid asked. "It's disgusting, and it's straight out the Nazi playbook," Kluwe said. "They tried to go after gay people, they're gonna continue to go after gay people, and they're gonna use trans people as the wedge to do it." Longtime readers will remember Kluwe's public support of marriage equality, and his account of how he faced pushback within the Minnesota Vikings organization during the 2012 season.
Kluwe isn't deterred by his arrest this week. He told the Washington Post that he plans to attend the next Huntington Beach city council meeting, joking, "We’ll see if I’m banned or not."
