For two centuries, the certification of U.S. presidential election results was little more than a ceremonial rubber stamp by Congress.
News outlets all but ignored the day of the official electoral college count, a routine procedural step on the way to the new president’s inauguration.
It’s hard to imagine that the vast majority of Americans gave the event more than a moment’s thought before Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters — egged on by Donald Trump and his relentless, baseless claims that the election had been stolen — rampaged through the Capitol to try to stop the count.
The U.S. may never again have the luxury of being so blasé about Jan. 6.
And yet on Monday, vice-president Kamala Harris presided calmly over the ceremony to certify the victory of Trump, her Republican rival in the 2024 election. Harris announced Trump’s 312 electoral college votes to her own 226, to the applause of Congress.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris presided over a joint session of Congress that certified Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, with each side of the political aisle cheering its party’s candidate in the presidential race.
Exactly four years ago, vice-president Mike Pence had to be rushed off the Senate floor to safety, after conceding that his boss, Trump, had lost that election, while a mob outside the Capitol chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”
The contrast between the two days couldn’t be any more stark.
“I welcome the return of order and civility to these historic proceedings,” Pence said Monday on 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 the peaceful transfer of power.
“As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile,” she said. “And it is up to each of us to stand up for our most cherished principles.”
Four years after the riot that threatened to alter the results of a free and fair election, it’s far from clear how Americans will perceive the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as Trump takes office again and time passes.
President Joe Biden is urging people in the U.S. not to pretend that what happened that day didn’t happen.
“An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that 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 crossed the National Mall and climbed the Capitol walls, smashing windows and kicking down doors,’ Biden continued. “Law enforcement officials were beaten, dragged, knocked unconscious and stomped upon.”
Trump is promising to pardon “a large portion” of those convicted for their role in the riot, potentially as soon as his first day in office, on Jan. 20.
The incoming president hasn’t clearly indicated which crimes he’s willing to pardon. Still, Trump’s promise has thrown a wrench into the around 300 prosecutions related to Jan. 6 that have yet to make their way though the courts.
Roughly 1,000 of those arrested pled guilty but now, emboldened by Trump’s looming return to the Oval Office, the accused have hardly any incentive to make a deal with prosecutors.
Some political commentators are taking the view that the electoral college count has now permanently moved from being a day of symbolism to a one of significance.
“Most profoundly, Trump will send a message down through the ages that a president who refuses to accept the result of a free and fair election and who incites an attack on the Capitol can get away with it — and regain power,” wrote Stephen Collinson, a CNN senior political reporter.
Veteran Republican strategist David Frum wrote in the Atlantic that: “Almost every institution in American society and the great majority of its wealthiest and most influential citizens will find some way to make peace 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. “Future perceptions of Jan. 6 will depend not just on the facts but on who wins the next election.”
There are signs it may be a long time before the electoral college certification permanently returns to being a ho-hum event that everyone ignores.
The deadly New Orleans truck attack has prompted heightened security for upcoming events in Washington, including the election certification of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and the state funeral for former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.
Back in September, before election day, the Department of Homeland Security declared the count a national special security event, the first time that’s happened.
As a result, security around the Capitol was ramped up ahead of Monday’s joint session of Congress, regardless of the fact that no one really expected a repeat of what happened four years ago.
Workers installed thousands of two-metre high interlocking metal fencing panels along the National Mall, starkly labelled with signs saying “Police Line Do Not Cross” and all Washington police officers were called in for duty.
Inside the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader John Thune congratulated Trump and set the stage for the Republican-controlled Congress to forge ahead in step with the incoming administration.
“Now the work begins of delivering on our agenda, and Mr. President, Republicans are ready to go,” he said.
