Chris Kluwe, a former NFL punter most known for kicking the punt that Devin Hester returned for a record-breaking touchdown in 2010 and his unsupported claims that his career ended due to his advocacy for same-sex marriage, was dragged away by police after his minute-long tirade against President Donald Trump’s political movement at a Tuesday city council meeting.
Kluwe, who has a history of claiming that his left-wing activism ended his NFL career, was arrested by police in Huntington Beach, California, after he approached the city council after his rant against “MAGA,” the abbreviation for Trump’s signature slogan, Make America Great Again. Prior to his arrest, he repeated multiple left-wing talking points on efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce waste during the one-minute rant.
“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 claimed. “MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for re-segregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans.”
WATCH:
Parents across the country raised objections to books with sexually explicit content in recent years, prompting some states to act to remove them from schools. Schools pulled multiple books on the grounds of having explicit content, including “Gender Queer,” “Let’s Talk About It” and “It’s Perfectly Normal” after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed legislation to remove potentially harmful content in 2023.
Democrats and teachers’ unions have criticized the efforts to remove the explicit books, claiming it is a form of censorship.
“MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing,” Kluwe continued. “MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal. MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including cancelling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children.”
Trump established DOGE in a Jan. 20 executive order and later expanded its responsibilities to include the hiring of government employees in a Feb. 11 executive order. The agency was also tasked with eliminating wasteful federal spending, and claims to have already identified $55 billion in waste, including $2 billion sent to a non-profit tied to former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams of Georgia.
Despite Kluwe’s claims in his tirade, no air traffic controllers have been fired by the Trump administration. At least 50 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration were laid off Feb. 13, but the reduction in force was rescinded, Forbes reported.
“MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy, and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement,” Kluwe said. “You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that’s what it is. I will now engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.”
Police arrested Kluwe, who earned just under $9.3 million in his eight-season NFL career, and charged him with disturbing an assembly, according to USA Today.
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