The Dictatorship
Ex-NFL punter arrested after calling MAGA a ‘Nazi movement’ at a City Council meeting in Calif.
Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was handcuffed and carried out of a City Council meeting in Southern California on Tuesday after he criticized a proposal to display a plaque referring to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement at a local library.
Earlier this month, the Huntington Beach Community and Library Services Commission approved plans to install a commemorative plaque to mark the library’s 50th anniversary. The plaque’s design, which needed final approval from the Huntington Beach City Council, included two American flags, the names of current council members and other city leaders and an acrostic reading: “Magical. Alluring. Galvanizing. Adventurous.”
The plaque immediately sparked outrage from the local community,including Kluwe, who has lived in Huntington Beach for 15 years. In a video of Kluwe’s remarks shared online, the former Minnesota Vikings punter shared his view of what Trump’s MAGA movement stands for:
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 … MAGA stands for hate, and fear, and the idea that we should have a king instead of co-equal branches of government.
Kluwe also called MAGA “profoundly corrupt” and “unmistakably anti-democracy,” before labeling it a “Nazi movement.” As some in the crowd applauded, he added, “You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.”
Kluwe ended his remarks by announcing he would “engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience” and made his way toward the council members seated on the dais. He was quickly stopped by multiple police officers, handcuffed and physically carried out of the room. The 43-year-old said later on social media that he had been arrested and charged with disrupting an assembly and released from custody four hours later.
“I appreciate everyone’s messages of support, I’m trying to get through all my mentions but as you can imagine, it’s been a bit of a busy day,” Kluwe wrote on social media Thursday. “Remember — peaceful civil disobedience, and no kings, no tyrants. Not ever.”
The former NFL player is no stranger to political activism. During his eight seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Kluwe was an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. In 2012, he filmed several ads for Minnesotans for Equality, a group that organized against a ballot measure that sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. The punter later alleged he was released by the team in 2013 due to his public support for LGBTQ+ rights. The Vikings organization denied those claims.
After Kluwe’s arrest, the City Council proceeded with the vote and unanimously agreed to install the plaque — but with a slightly modified design that put the words of the acrostic on one line and adding below it an additional phrase that refers to slogans associated with Trump and former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama: “Through hope and change our nation has built back better to the golden era of Making America Great Again!”
Allison Detzel
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for BLN Digital.
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A man was arrested Friday night at a party during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, for allegedly assaulting a Florida congressman.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost wrote on X on Saturday that he was punched in the face by a man who told Frost that President Donald Trump was going to deport him. The altercation occurred at a private party hosted by talent agency CAA at the High West Distillery, a popular venue for festival-adjacent events.
“He was heard screaming racist remarks as he drunkenly ran off,” Frost wrote. “The individual was arrested and I am okay.”
Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress, thanked the venue security and the Park City Police Department for their help. A Park City Police Department representative said officers arrived on the scene just after midnight.
Christian Joel Young, 28, was arrested on charges of aggravated burglary, assaulting an elected official and assault and transported to Summit County Jail, according to court records.
Young appeared to have crashed the party by jumping a fence and had a Sundance Film Festival pass that was not issued in his name, according to the police affidavit.
It was unclear if Young had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. The Associated Press left messages with the Summit County Sheriff’s office and Utah courts in an attempt to request comment from Young or a lawyer.
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The Sundance Film Festival representatives released a statement saying that they “strongly condemn” the incident, noting that while it occurred at a non-affiliated event that the behavior is “against our values of upholding a welcoming and inspiring environment for all our attendees.”
“The safety and security of our festival attendees is always our chief concern, and our thoughts are with Congressman Frost and his continued well-being,” the statement read. “We encourage anyone with additional information on this matter to contact the Park City Police Department.”
County Judge Richard Mrazik ordered Young held without bail, on the grounds that he would constitute, “a substantial danger to any other individual or to the community, or is likely to flee the jurisdiction of the court if released on bail.” Young has a prior misdemeanor conviction, according to court records.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, denounced the alleged attack and said he won’t let tensions over immigration enforcement in places like Minneapolis spill into Utah.
“Political or racially charged violence of any kind is unacceptable in Utah,” Cox said in a statement. “I’m grateful to local law enforcement for swiftly apprehending the assailant and pursuing justice for Rep. Maxwell Frost.”
Federal immigration enforcement efforts are “welcome and necessary,” he added.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X that he was horrified by what had happened and that “the perpetrator must be aggressively prosecuted.”
“Hate and political violence has no place in our country,” Jeffries continued.
Messages seeking comment were left for representatives for CAA.
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Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed.
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For more coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/sundance-film-festival
Amanda Gorman shared a powerful poem on Instagram that she wrote in honor of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse and U.S. citizen killed by a federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday.
The poem, “For Alex Jeffrey Pretti,” characterizes Pretti’s killing as a “betrayal” and an “execution.”
Gorman, earlier this month, also paid tribute to Renee Nicole Good, another U.S. citizen killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. In a caption accompanying another poem shared on Instagram, Gorman said she was “horrified by the ongoing violence that ICE wages upon our community. Across our country, we are witnessing discrimination and brutality on an unconscionable scale.”
Her poem says, in part: “You could believe departed to be the dawn/ When the blank night has so long stood./ But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone,/ When they forever are so fiercely Good.”
The 27-year-old writer and activist famously recited her poem, “Blue Light News We Climb,” at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in 2021. Gorman has also written poems in the wake of other tragedies in the country, including “Hymn for the Hurting,” about the Robb Elementary mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas in 2022. She also performed a poem she wrote about reproductive rights and the Roe V. Wade Supreme Court case in a NowThis video in 2019.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in recordings obtained by Axiosseems to have a bone to pick with Vice President JD Vance and sometimes, President Donald Trump.
In his remarks, which lasted about 10 minutes and were reportedly made in a private meeting with donors sometime last year, Cruz portrays himself as an economically-minded, pro-interventionist who has the president’s ear.
The Texas senator is also heard criticizing former Fox News personality, Tucker Carlson, and his relationship with the vice president. “Tucker created JD. JD is Tucker’s protégé, and they are one and the same,” Cruz told donors.
Cruz, who has clashed with Carlson in the past over foreign intervention policies, bashed the administration’s appointment of Israel critic Daniel Davis to a top national intelligence position. A vocal supporter of Israel himself, Cruz called Davis “a guy who viciously hates Israel,” and credited himself with removing Davis from the job.
The Republican senator also blamed Vance and Carlson for ousting former national security adviser Mike Waltz over similar anti-interventionist sentiments related to Iran.
“[Waltz] supported being vigorous against Iran and bombing Iran — and Tucker and JD took Mike out,” Cruz said.
Cruz also said he has been trying to get the White House to accept a trade agreement with India, but claimed White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, Vance and “sometimes” Trump, are resistant.
Domestically, Cruz cautioned donors about Trump’s tariffs, which he said could result in severe economic and political consequences. Cruz is reportedly heard telling donors that he told the president “if we get to November of [2026] and people’s 401(k)s are down 30% and prices are up 10–20% at the supermarket, we’re going to go into Election Day, face a bloodbath.”
Cruz said a conversation he had with Trump about tariffs “did not go well,” and that Trump was “yelling” and “cursing.” Cruz said Trump told him: “F*** you, Ted.”
“Trump was in a bad mood,” Cruz said. “I’ve been in conversations where he was very happy. This was not one of them.”
In a statement about the recordings, a spokesperson for Cruz said he is “the president’s greatest ally in the Senate and battles every day in the trenches to advance his agenda. Those battles include fights over staffers who try to enter the administration despite disagreeing with the president and seeking to undermine his foreign policy” and that “these attempts at sowing division are pathetic and getting boring.”
In an email responding to MS NOW’s request for comment on Cruz’s reported statements, the White House did not address Cruz’s statements.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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