Former Vikings punter Chris Kluwe was arrested in handcuffs after he protested the installation of a MAGA plaque at his local library. Here, MAGA does not stand for Make America Great Again; it was an acrostic poem spelling MAGA as “Magical. Alluring. Galvanizing. Adventurous”. Kluwe was arrested during a meeting of the Huntington Beach City Council where Kluwe joined other residents in speaking against the MAGA slogan on the plague.
In his speech, he said MAGA stands for exactly the opposite of what the poem said. He said the residents were not opposing the plaque but they were opposing the inclusion of the MAGA thing. “As the community made clear at the library commission meeting last Tuesday, everyone is in favor of a plaque to celebrate the library,” Kluwe said. “But the vast, vast majority are against including a MAGA acrostic, OK?”
“Unfortunately it’s clear that this council does not listen, so I’m going to take my time to explain what MAGA has stood for these past three weeks,” he said.
“MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for re-segregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans,” Kluwe said.
“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.”
“MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy, and, most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is,” Kluwe said invoking both shock and applause from the residents.
Police said that Kluwe was charged with disrupting a public assembly, which carries a fine of up to $1,000 or six months in jail, according to the California State Penal Code.
A video showed Kluwe was face down on the floor of the chamber while four police officers surrounded and handcuffed him. Kluwe was then carried out by the officers as onlookers cheered.
