Former NFL Player Chris Kluwe Was Arrested After Sharing His Thoughts About Trump

Well before he left the NFL, former punter Chris Kluwe made his stance on politics clear. Years after he left the sport, he continues to share his thoughts publicly, including some serious words about Donald Trump and the president's second term in office. While it's clear that Kluwe does not support Trump or his plans for the United States government, many want to know what Kluwe does believe when it comes to politics.

Kluwe's professional football career began in 2005 with the Seattle Seahawks. He later moved on with the Minnesota Vikings, and he ended his career after he signed with the Oakland Raiders. But, following his career in the NFL, Kluwe continued to remain in the spotlight by openly sharing his views on political and social issues. That includes sharing what he believes MAGA, Trump's ongoing slogan which stands for "make America great again," truly means.

Kluwe has always been pretty outspoken about how he feels regarding politics and social injustice. In 2012, he wrote a letter to then-Baltimore County state delegate Emmett Burns when Burns spoke out against another player being in public support of same-sex marriage. At the time, Kluwe wrote that same-sex marriages would have no lasting effect on other people and he targeted Burns specifically for speaking out about a player speaking for LGBTQ+ rights.

"You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails," Kluwe wrote at the time in a letter that was shared by the media. "Do the civil rights struggles of the past 200 years mean absolutely nothing to you?"

He also wrote that giving these couples "the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population" was important so that those couples could receive "rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children."

As far as Kluwe's political party, that might be up for debate by Kluwe himself.

"I've never been a big fan of labels," he told Reason in an interview. "It's hard to sum up a person with a single label. I say I lean toward the libertarian side. Some things I lean more liberal, and some things I lean more conservative. But it's all about not taking the rights away from somebody else."

Kluwe has spent years making his voice heard when it comes to politics and social injustices, whether he has meant to or not. He appeared at a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, Calif. on Feb. 18, 2025, where he spoke out against the MAGA plaque to be displayed at the local library in honor of Trump.

"MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence," he said, among other things, before he was arrested and taken out of the building. "MAGA stands for re-segregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing."