(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Former NFL star kicks off campaign to sack MAGA [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2025-09-02
Being carried out of a city council meeting by police officers isn’t your typical political campaign launch, but for former NFL star Chris Kluwe, it was the play that officially kicked off his career in politics.
Now, the man who openly called MAGA a “Nazi movement” is going up against some of the “MAGA-nificent seven” city council members he protested against in the first place.
In this Oct. 29, 2012, file photo, Minnesota Vikings NFL football punter Chris Kluwe speaks against a marriage amendment at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Kluwe later alleged that he was released from the team due to his support of gay marriage.
“I'm passionate about the things that I believe in, and I always give 100% when I choose to do something,” Kluwe told Daily Kos.
“And in this case, the thing I'm choosing to do is trying to save our democracy.”
On Aug. 25, Kluwe announced that he is running for the California state Assembly in District 72, which encompasses Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, and Aliso Viejo.
The longtime progressive activist and former Minnesota Vikings punter made a viral claim to fame in February at a city council meeting, where he peacefully protested a then-proposed and now-approved “MAGA” plaque in the Huntington Beach Library.
“MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy, and, most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement,” Kluwe said as applause erupted in the room. “You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.”
Soon after his arrest, Kluwe—who coached football at a high school within the area he’s hoping to represent in the state Assembly—was fired from his job for speaking out.
Enraged right-wingers labeled the athlete as incendiary and violent for taking a stand against the council members’ gesture of subservience to President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. Kluwe, on the other hand, saw the MAGA plaque as a small piece of a much bigger issue.
“We are living under an authoritarian ruler who is trying to make things worse for this country, and the Republican Party as a whole has shown no desire to pull him back,” he told Daily Kos. “In fact, they are enabling him every single day.”
Related | Ex-NFL star Chris Kluwe: 'No kings, no tyrants—not now, not ever'
The left has been sounding the alarm across the country as the Trump administration continues its destructive rampage. Funding for environmental studies and climate change has been eviscerated. Universities have been under attack for the subjects they teach, while international students have been deported or imprisoned for their political beliefs.
In some cases, professors and students have fled the country. Others have resorted to using code words in their research so as to not get flagged by the administration as “woke.”
Referring to Trump’s decision to activate California’s National Guard against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s will and deploy hundreds of active Marines into the streets of Los Angeles, Kluwe doubled down on MAGA’s true meaning.
“I think Donald Trump has read one book in his life, and it's ‘Mein Kampf’,” he added.
“And he wants his own brown shirts. He wants his private paramilitary force that answers only to him. He will do whatever he wants them to do, because he does not regard himself as a president. He regards himself as a king.”
Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe during a game against the Houston Texans on Aug. 31, 2009 in Houston.
Now, Kluwe told us, he’s choosing to go from protesting in the streets of Orange County to representing the people he marched alongside.
But he won’t be ditching his World of Warcraft Bluesky handle or spicy takes to water down his political stance. Instead, he jokingly added “at the dismay of my campaign manager,” he plans to showcase something that many Democrats have been lacking for quite some time: authenticity.
Instead of consulting with focus groups or looking at what might poll well, he said, he’s sticking to saying what he believes.
And while the election isn’t until 2026, Kluwe knows he has to start putting the work in now.
The first play, he said, is getting people involved in local elections to begin with.
“I think across America, the people who want a democracy far outnumber those who want an authoritarian form of government, and we just need them to show up,” Kluwe explained.
And he has no doubt that we’re in a dire situation.
“It's clear that Donald Trump wants to be a dictator. He said it himself,” Kluwe added.
Getting people to remember that when it’s time to go to the polls next year is key.
“We have to stand up,” he said, “and we have to show them that this isn't what America is about.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/2/2340758/-Former-NFL-star-kicks-off-campaign-to-sack-MAGA?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
