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For two centuries, the confirmation of the results of the US presidential election was little more than the ceremonial seal of Congress.
News outlets all but ignored the day of the official voter count, a routine procedural step on the way to the inauguration of a new president.
It’s hard to imagine that the vast majority of Americans thought about the event more than a moment before January 6, 2021, when rioters — spurred on by Donald Trump and his relentless, baseless claims that the election was rigged — rampaged across the Capitol to try to stop the count.
The US may never again have the luxury of being so blasé about January 6th.
Still, on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris calmly presided over a confirmation ceremony for Trump, her Republican rival in the 2024 election. Harris announced Trump’s 312 Electoral College votes to her 226, to applause from Congress.
US Vice President Kamala Harris presided over a joint session of Congress that confirmed Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, with each side of the political aisle rooting for their party’s candidate in the presidential race.
Exactly four years ago, Vice President Mike Pence had to be rushed out of the Senate to safety, after he admitted that his boss, Trump, had lost that election, while a mob outside the Capitol chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”
The contrast between those two days could not be greater.
“I welcome the return of order and civility to these historic proceedings,” Pence he said on Monday at X.
‘Democracy can be fragile’
In a video message released Monday morning, Harris described her role in the certification as a “sacred obligation” to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.
“As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile,” she said. “And it’s up to each of us to stand up for our most cherished principles.”
Four years after the riots that threatened to alter the results of a free and fair election, it’s unclear how Americans will perceive the events of January 6, 2021, as Trump takes office again and time ticks on.
President Joe Biden is urging people in the US not to pretend that what happened that day didn’t happen.
“There is a relentless effort underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day,” Biden said in the article. published in the Washington Post.
“We cannot allow the truth to be lost,” he added.
“Thousands of rioters crossed the National Mall and scaled the walls of the Capitol, smashing windows and kicking down doors,” Biden continued. “They were beaten, dragged, knocked unconscious and stomped on by law enforcement officers.”
It’s Trump promising pardon “a large part” of those convicted for their role in the riots, potentially on their first day in office, January 20.
The new president has not clearly indicated which crimes he is ready to forgive. Still, Trump’s promise threw a wrench in the roughly 300 criminal prosecutions related to Jan. 6 that have yet to reach the courts.
About 1,000 of those arrested have pleaded guilty, but now, emboldened by Trump’s impending return to the Oval Office, the accused have little incentive to settle with prosecutors.
Some political commentators believe that the Electoral College count has now permanently moved from symbolic to a day of significance.
“Most profoundly, Trump will send a message for the ages that a president who refuses to accept the results of a free and fair election and encourages an attack on the Capitol can get away with it — and take power again,” written by Stephen Collinsonsenior political reporter for CNN.
Veteran Republican strategist David Frum wrote in the Atlantic that: “Nearly every institution in American society and the vast majority of its wealthiest and most powerful citizens will find some way to come to terms with Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021.”
That day was “a striking and alarming example of the fragility of our constitutional system,” writes author Jonathan Alter in the New York Times. “The future perception of January 6 will depend not only on the facts but also on who wins the next election.”
There are signs that it could be a long time before the Electoral College confirmation returns to the hom event that everyone ignores forever.
A deadly truck attack in New Orleans prompted heightened security for upcoming events in Washington, including the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump and the state funeral of former US President Jimmy Carter.
Back in September, before Election Day, the Department of Homeland Security announced the count of a special national security eventthe first time it happened.
As a result, security around the Capitol was tight reinforced ahead of a joint session of Congress on Monday, despite the fact that no one expected a repeat of what happened four years ago.
Workers installed thousands of six-foot-tall interlocking metal fence panels along the National Mall, clearly marked with signs reading “Police Line No Crossing,” and all Washington police officers were called to duty.
Inside the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader John Thune congratulated Trump and set the stage for the Republican-controlled Congress to move forward with the incoming administration.
“Now the work begins to fulfill our agenda and Mr. President, the Republicans are ready to go,” he said.
