California city approves $7K ‘MAGA’ plaque for library’s anniversary
Despite hundreds of attendees voicing opposition to installing a plaque referencing President Donald Trump at the Huntington Beach Central Library, a city commission voted unanimously to proceed with the gesture.
The plaque, which is meant to commemorate the library’s 50th anniversary, features the slogan Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous. Arranged in the style of an acrostic poem, the slogan reads “MAGA,” the acronym synonymous with President Donald Trump and the Republican party.
The not-so-subtle allusion to Trump appears to be a wholly new slogan created specifically for the plaque, with no ties to the official verbiage or brand identity of Huntington Beach or its public library system. A search for the phrase on the city’s website yielded no relevant results.
After news broke about plans to install the plaque during an event honoring the library’s five decades of service, outrage spread online, mobilizing opponents to attend Tuesday’s meeting of the Huntington Beach Community and Library Services Commission.
Matt Szabo, a reporter for the Daily Pilot, which is published under the umbrella of the Los Angeles Times, was in attendance for Tuesday’s meeting and described a scene of overwhelming opposition for the city’s motion.
“More than 300 emails were against this,” Szabo wrote on Bluesky. “Most of overflow crowd is, too.”
Among those speaking out against the city’s plan was former councilmember Natalie Moser, who described the commemorative plaque as “political propaganda disguised as a celebration.”
“Libraries are spaces for knowledge, community and inclusion, they are not tools for political messaging yet this plaque inserts division, exclusion and control into a space meant to foster learning and unity,” Moser said. “The use of a ‘MAGA’ acrostic injects partisan ideology into a public institution that belongs to everyone, not just a political movement.”
On Reddit, in the dedicated Huntington Beach subreddit, one user shared their message to the commission voting on the plaque: “Although not everyone in this room may lean towards either side of the political spectrum, at the very least, we can all agree that the term ‘MAGA’ is divisive language. Our local leaders wish to spend $7,000 of your taxpayer money to create a plaque that a large portion of the city will hate.”
Messaging aside, the cost of the plaque itself was also a topic of concern for those who opposed the city’s plan, with some questioning if the money spent on the design, fabrication, and installation would be better spent on the library’s overall mission.
Tuesday’s vote marked the latest clash between the Huntington Beach City Council and its library system. Last year, the council considered outsourcing library operations to a third-party company.
In 2023, the city mandated that librarians review children’s books and relocate those containing “sexually explicit” material. Reporting from LAist found that most of the flagged books focused on health, the human body and puberty.
Despite the council’s arguably antagonistic relationship with the library system, the plaque includes the names of current council members, and those on the Community and Library Services Commission who had the final say on its installation for the library’s 50th anniversary.
After public comment, the board approved the plaque with unanimous support.
Dispelling any notion that the use of “MAGA” on the plaque was simply coincidental, Jeanne Paris, a member of the Community and Library Services Commision said, “Make America great is not a racist comment.”
The overflowing crowd of opponents booed that sentiment, Szabo said.
KTLA has twice reached out to the City of Huntington Beach media team for comment, including whether the slogan has been used previously in an official capacity.
On Wednesday, the following statement was provided to KTLA:
The proposed library plaque was approved by the Community & Library Services Commission at their meeting last night. The item will be on the February 18, 2025 City Council agenda for their approval.
Jennifer Carey – Deputy City Manager