Congress’s transfer Monday to certify Donald Trump’s presidential victory marked the return of a secular ceremony that can be remembered principally for what it was not: the rampage of 4 years in the past, when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed effort to overturn Trump’s defeat.
These occasions of Jan. 6, 2021 — which was fueled largely by Trump’s lies a few “stolen” election — have been a flash level of tensions between Trump’s allies and critics in each events ever since, sparking numerous clashes over the character of the riot, Trump’s actions surrounding it and his health for returning to energy.
This time round, the election final result was not in dispute. Democrats had been stung by Trump’s victory, however none within the occasion are contesting it. And but the violence of 4 years in the past was nonetheless a potent characteristic of Monday’s joint session on Capitol Hill, the place the complicated was encircled by an enormous metal safety fence, legislation enforcement officers had been out in pressure and reporters flocked to cowl each angle of the method, focusing the nation’s consideration squarely on a humdrum constitutional ritual that was largely ignored outdoors the Beltway earlier than 2021.
Democrats made some extent to not be confrontational or problem state outcomes, regardless of having executed so in years previous. That technique, which was inspired by occasion leaders within the weeks main as much as Monday, was designed to ship a easy message: We’re not like them.
“It was a peaceful day because we have no election deniers on our side of the aisle,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former constitutional legislation professor who led Trump’s second impeachment following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, stated Monday. “Constitutional virtue is its own reward, and we’re standing up for the Constitution today.”
If observers wanted one other reminder of the contrasting approaches to election certification within the Trump period, the method was overseen by two figures who performed outsize roles within the Trump saga: Vice President Harris, who was defeated by Trump in November and conceded the election, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), a detailed Trump ally who had crafted the authorized rationale for difficult President Biden’s victory 4 years in the past.
Then, the certification course of stretched into the early hours of Jan. 7, delayed by the riot and Republican challenges to Trump’s defeat in two battleground states. On Monday, your entire ritual was over in half-hour.
Many Republicans have sought to reframe the historical past of the Capitol rampage, saying it was merely a protest that bought out of hand. And Monday, they celebrated Trump weeks forward of his swearing in on the Capitol on Jan. 20. Trump allies similar to Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wore MAGA hats across the Capitol.
Afterward, Johnson took a victory lap, characterizing Trump’s win as “the greatest political comeback in American history.”
“His landslide election and corresponding mandate from the American people dictate that Congress waste no time in delivering on the America First agenda, and we are prepared to hit the ground running,” Johnson stated.
Harris, whereas presiding, was businesslike. She by no means clapped or modified her facial features as 4 lawmakers, often called tellers, learn out the election outcomes. As soon as she gaveled in, she stood up, along with her fingers clasped and looking out ahead.
Johnson, sitting subsequent to her, clapped alongside when a teller would learn that Trump received a sure state, and Vice President-elect JD Vance (R-Ohio), sitting along with his Senate colleagues throughout the certification, additionally clapped. Democrats would clap when a state was referred to as that Harris received, however that was the extent of noise from that facet of the aisle.
The entire occasion had little or no fanfare.
To finish the certification, Harris introduced Trump acquired 312 electors out of the 538, and Republicans, together with Johnson subsequent to her, stood up and clapped and cheered.
“Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes,” she then stated and stopped whereas Democrats stood as much as clap for her. She smiled softly after which tapped the gavel.
Briefly remarks afterward, Harris stated a certification with out fanfare “should be the norm.”
“Today, I did what I have done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath that I have taken many times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which included today, performing my constitutional duty to ensure that the people of America, the voters of America, will have their votes counted,” Harris stated, including that America’s democracy should be fought for and could be “very fragile.”
“Today, America’s democracy stood,” she stated.
4 years in the past, as Trump lobbed false allegations of a “stolen” election, a mob of his supporters stormed into the Capitol to protest the certification of Biden’s election. Greater than 140 legislation enforcement officers had been injured, and three would die within the days and weeks that adopted, together with two by suicide. One rioter was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she tried to enter the Speaker’s foyer abutting the Home chamber.
Later that night time, a majority of Home Republicans — 139 lawmakers — voted to overturn Trump’s defeat in Arizona, Pennsylvania or each.
Then-Vice President Mike Pence cemented his function in historical past that day when he bucked the stress from Trump to overturn Biden’s victory. Because of this, rioters storming the Capitol chanted “hang Mike Pence,” turning on Trump’s second-in-command.
Pence praised Harris on Monday for presiding over the election that she misplaced, calling the peaceable switch of energy “the hallmark of our democracy and today.”
Trump’s first vp stated on the social platform X that it was “particularly admirable that Vice President Harris would preside over the certification of a presidential election that she lost.”
Earlier than 4 years in the past, the vp’s function in officiating the Electoral School depend earlier than Congress, the ultimate step within the election course of earlier than a president takes the White Home, was principally uneventful.
Some Democrats highlighted the normalcy of Monday compared to 2021, criticizing Republicans and Trump whereas doing so.
“I’m in the Capitol right now to certify the electoral vote. It is quiet,” Sen Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), wrote on X. “Do not take that for granted. Do not think our democracy is healthy. No, our democracy is in grave peril because one party still believes in using violence to achieve power.”
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the Democratic Home whip, stated her occasion will vote to certify the outcomes “because we are democracy believers, not election deniers.”
She added on X, “Because we will always honor the will of the people, not bow to the dictates of one man.”
Emily Brooks contributed.
