Congress was set to gather Monday to certify President-elect Trump’s election win, four years to the day after thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lawmakers were expected to brave a nasty snowstorm to meet under tight security to rubber stamp Trump’s comeback and send the once and future commander-in-chief back to the White House in two week’s time.
No violence or protests are expected this time, exactly four years after Trump supporters and allies launched a violent effort to derail President Biden’s election victory.
It remains to be seen if any lawmakers will raise any mild procedural protests as some legislators had done in past presidential votes.
But unlike MAGA’s angry uprising after the 2020 vote, Democratic leaders broadly accept the choice of the American people reflected by Trump’s 312-226 electoral college victory and even a narrow popular vote win in the November vote.
The day’s return to the traditional peaceful transfer of presidential power comes as Trump prepares to take office in two weeks with the political wind at his back. Republicans will hold control of the Senate and House for at least the next two years, along with a conservative super-majority on the Supreme Court.
The onetime reality TV star and real estate mogul still denies that he lost to Biden four years ago, calls the attack a “day of love” and vows to pardon some or all of the more than 1,250 people who have pleaded guilty or were convicted of crimes for the Capitol attack.
Despite Trump’s big win, Biden hailed the return to normalcy as a massive victory for American democracy.
“We’ve got to get back to the basic, normal transfer of power,” Biden said Sunday. The Jan. 6 attack “was a genuine threat to democracy,” he added. “I’m hopeful we’re beyond that now.”
With pomp and tradition, the day was expected to unfold on Monday much as it did every four years before 2021.
Ceremonial mahogany boxes filled with the electoral certificates from the states will arrive in Congress for routine inspection. Senators will walk across the Capitol to the House to begin certifying the vote.
Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over the counting of the electoral votes as the Constitution mandates. She will face the obligation of overseeing her own defeat, following in the footsteps of ex-veeps like Democrat Al Gore in 2001 and Republican Richard Nixon in 1961.
It all couldn’t be more different than the violent and chaotic scene that erupted four years ago when thousands of Trump’s extremist supporters overran security and invaded the citadel of American democracy.
They attacked police and ran roughshod through the building, some calling for the assassination of then-Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other perceived enemies of Trump.
Trump did nothing for hours to restore order.
His supporters finally ended the siege hours later after one protester was shot dead by Capitol police as the mob tried to break into the House gallery where terrified lawmakers were sheltering.
Special counsel Jack Smith won an indictment of Trump on charges of seeking to overturn the election. But he dropped the case last month in an acknowledgement that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted.
