Congress Certified Trump’s Win And — Surprise – No One Rioted This Time

WASHINGTON — Four years ago, a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and assaulted more than 100 police officers in an attempt to prevent the 2020 election certification, a bloody attack on Congress that shook the foundation of American democracy.

On Monday, the only danger lawmakers had to contend with as they worked to certify Donald Trump’s 2024 election win was a snowy commute and the icy steps of the Capitol building.

“A little chilly,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), bundled up in coat and scarf, remarked upon entering the building Monday.

“I’m not walking into a building that is about to be bludgeoned by rioters,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told HuffPost. “I hope nobody takes for granted how normal this feels. Had Kamala Harris won, I know a lot of our lives would likely be in jeopardy once again today.”

Unlike four years ago, when Trump falsely claimed the election had been rigged against him and called on his supporters to march on the Capitol, Harris did not cry foul and Democrats raised no objections to the Electoral College result. Instead, the vice president presided over what had long been a formality, at least before Trump.

The certification started Monday with a procession to the House chamber that included senators, wooden ballot boxes and the vice president. Then tellers read the state results in alphabetical order, handed the documents to Harris, and she announced the final outcome.

The entire process took about an hour.

Like other vice presidents who were unsuccessful at winning the White House, Harris formalized her own loss in the November election. She did so as constitutionally required, even though she once called Trump a fascist who is uniquely unqualified for the presidency.

“This duty is a sacred obligation — one I will uphold guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution and my unwavering faith in the American people,” Harris said in a video posted online Monday.

Though there were no disruptions, and no significant threats, the government erected a much more formidable security apparatus around the Capitol, including a perimeter of tall black fences.

It is now also much harder for members of Congress to force a vote to overturn state election results. Congress passed a law in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot raising the threshold for an objection from just one member from the House and Senate to one-fifth of both chambers.

Four years ago, then-President Trump held a rally near the White House, urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and encouraged them to go to the Capitol, where they pushed aside waist-high barricades, overwhelmed police and stormed the building. Inside, Republicans had objected to the ballots, prompting the House and Senate to break into separate sessions to consider and ultimately reject the objections, which were based on unfounded fraud concerns.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with crimes for their actions that day, including hundreds for violently attacking police, and Trump himself for gathering the mob as part of his broader scheme to undo the 2020 election.

Trump has vowed that he would pardon the rioters as soon as he takes the oath of office later this month. That could include more than 1,000 people charged in relation to the Jan. 6 riot, according to Bloomberg.

On the eve of the anniversary, President Joe Biden criticized efforts to “erase” the history of the Jan. 6 riot and decried what he calls an “unrelenting effort” to downplay the mob violence.

“We should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year,” Biden wrote in an opinion piece published Sunday in The Washington Post. “To remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed. To remember that democracy — even in America — is never guaranteed.”

Some Republicans sought to trivialize the riot by Trump supporters. In a social media post, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) described the storming of the Capitol as “thousands of peaceful grandmothers gathered in Washington, D.C., to take a self-guided, albeit unauthorized, tour of the U.S. Capitol building.”

Many Democrats bitterly noted the contrast between Monday’s proceedings and the way they went four years ago.

“I’m feeling angry about the fact that this is going to be strawberry ice cream and puppies because Trump won, and if Trump had lost we’d be in body armor and protected by the 82nd Airborne,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) told HuffPost. “That tells you something about the difference between the two parties.”