House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday as the chamber prepared to take up impeachment proceedings against President Trump that the president’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan should instead be “Make America Grieve Again.”
Hoyer spoke on the House floor about how members of the mob in support of Trump who broke into the Capitol last week wore “MAGA Civil War January 6, 2021” shirts and erected a gallows with a platform and noose on the Capitol’s west front. One man was also spotted in a “Camp Auschwitz” shirt.
“They had the hats on of the army of MAGA, which I refer to as ‘Make America Grieve Again,'” Hoyer said during preliminary House floor debate.
“We grieved at Ft. Sumter. We grieved on Dec. 7, 1941 and we grieved on 9/11. And yes, we grieved on Jan. 6 of this year.”
Hoyer, who has served in the House since 1981, said that Trump’s actions are unlike any other president from the opposing party with whom he’s served.
“I’ve served with Ronald Reagan, with George H.W. Bush and George Bush. I have respect for all of those presidents. They cared about our country. They honored our Constitution. And they executed the duties of their office consistent with the Constitution and laws of our country. That is not true of this president. And therefore, he ought to be removed. We have that opportunity to do so. Is there little time left? Yes. But it is never too late to do the right thing,” Hoyer said.
Hoyer further pointed to statements from House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), who both plan to vote for the article of impeachment later Wednesday.
Cheney said that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” while Katko said that “to allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy.”
“She knows of what she speaks,” Hoyer said of Cheney.
Hoyer told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday that he expects the number of Republicans joining with Democrats in support of impeaching Trump over his role inciting the mob attack to be in the double digits.
“I would be surprised if there weren’t somewhere between 10 and 20,” Hoyer said.
On Tuesday night, the Capitol looked closer to normal than it did in the immediate aftermath of the attack. The Capitol Rotunda was cleared of the garbage left behind by rioters and the floors had been cleaned of the residue from tear gas, fire extinguishers and pepper spray.
The broken glass panes in the Speaker’s Lobby — where a Capitol Police officer shot a rioter attempting to break into the House chamber to try to stop lawmakers from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory — had all been replaced.
But there are still some remnants of last week’s assault. The doors leading from the east front center steps are still cracked, and crime scene tape hung off the wall near the west front door that leads to the inauguration platform, along with some battered police shields lying on the floor. Some windows in the first-floor Senate corridors are still boarded up.
Five people died amid last week’s riot, including a Capitol Police officer bludgeoned in the head by rioters as well as the one member of the mob who was shot as she tried to breach the House chamber while lawmakers, staff and reporters were still being evacuated. More than 50 police officers were injured.
Mike Lillis contributed.