For two centuries, the certification of U.S. presidential election results was little more than a ceremonial stamp issued by Congress.
News outlets all but ignored the day of the official counting of electoral college votes, a routine procedural step toward the inauguration of a new president.
It's hard to imagine that the vast majority of Americans would reflect on this event for more than a moment before January 6, 2021, when rioters – incited by Donald Trump and his baseless, baseless claims that the election was stolen – rampaged through the Capitol to try stop counting.
The United States may never again have the luxury of such a blasé approach to January 6.
And yet on Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris calmly presided over a ceremony confirming the victory of Trump, her Republican rival in the 2024 election. Harris announced that Trump's electoral college tally included 312 votes to 226, which was met with applause from Congress.
US Vice President Kamala Harris presided over a joint session of Congress that confirmed Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 elections, and both sides of the political aisle supported their party's candidate in the presidential race.
Exactly four years ago, Vice President Mike Pence had to be carried to safety from the Senate floor, after admitting that his boss Trump lost that election while the crowd outside the Capitol chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”
The contrast between these two days could not have been more stark.
“I welcome the return of order and civility to these historic events,” Pence X said on Monday.
“Democracy can be fragile”
In a video message posted Monday morning, Harris described her role in the certification as a “sacred duty” to ensure a peaceful transition of power.
“As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile,” she said. “And it is the responsibility of each of us to stand up for our most cherished principles.”
Four years after riots that threatened to change the results of a free and fair election, it is unclear how Americans will view the events of January 6, 2021, as Trump returns to office and time passes.
President Joe Biden urges people in the US not to pretend that what happened that day didn't happen.
“There is a sustained effort to rewrite – and even erase – the history of this day,” Biden said in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post..
“We cannot allow the truth to be lost,” he added.
“Thousands of rioters marched across the National Mall and scaled the walls of the Capitol, smashing windows and breaking down doors,” Biden continued. “Law enforcement officials were beaten, dragged, knocked unconscious and trampled.”
Trump is promising forgiveness “a large part” of people convicted for participating in riots, potentially on the first day in office, i.e. on January 20.
The future president did not clearly specify what crimes he was willing to pardon. Still, Trump's promise put an end to about 300 Jan. 6-related lawsuits that have not yet reached the courts.
About 1,000 of those arrested have pleaded guilty, but now, emboldened by Trump's impending return to the Oval Office, defendants have almost no incentive to strike a deal with prosecutors.
Some political commentators believe that the electoral college tally has permanently ceased to be a symbolic day and has become a day of great significance.
“Most importantly, Trump will send a time-honored signal that a president who refuses to accept the results of a free and fair election and who incites an attack on the Capitol can get away with it — and regain power,” he added. written by Stephen Collinsonsenior political reporter for CNN.
Experienced Republican strategist David Frum – he wrote in the Atlantic that: “Almost every institution of American society and the vast majority of its wealthiest and most influential citizens will find a way to come to terms with Trump's actions on January 6, 2021.”
The 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 indications that it may be a long time before the electoral college confirmation permanently returns to being a boring event that everyone ignores.
A deadly truck attack in New Orleans has prompted increased security ahead of upcoming events in Washington, including the election certification 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 reported that Count: a special national security eventthis happened for the first time.
As a result, there was security around the Capitol accelerated before Monday's joint session of Congress, even though no one really expected a repeat of what happened four years ago.
Workers installed thousands of eight-foot-tall metal fencing panels along the National Mall, clearly marked with signs reading “Do Not Cross the Police Line,” and all Washington police officers were called to duty.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader John Thune congratulated Trump and set the stage for a Republican-controlled Congress to move forward with the incoming administration.
“Now work begins to implement our program and Mr. President, Republicans are ready to act,” he said.