Donald Trump’s victory in the November presidential election was certified by Congress on Monday, and this time the only thing storming the Capitol was the heavy winter snowfall hitting Washington, D.C.
Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the certification, announcing Trump’s 312 Electoral College votes, to her own 226. Republicans stood and applauded as she announced Trump’s total.
The contrast between the procedure to finalize Trump’s victory ahead of his inauguration stands in stark contrast to what followed his 2020 election loss to outgoing President Joe Biden. Trump denied his loss, claiming widespread fraud and pushing the lie that the election was rigged against him. The conspiracy mongering, and his refusal to concede the presidency to Biden, resulted in a mob of angry pro-Trump protesters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
As the violence unfolded, Trump refused to intervene, and at one point outright egged on the crowd by calling out then-Vice President Mike Pence over his refusal to participate in the plot to replace electoral votes for Biden with fake pro-Trump electoral ballots, in his role overseeing the certification.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump tweeted as the crowd of his supporters attempted to force their way into the complex. A gallows was erected outside of the Capitol, and rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence” as vastly underprepared law enforcement agents attempted to control the situation.
Lawmakers were forced to evacuate from the Capitol or shelter in place with their staff, some coming within feet of the mob as they attempted to find a clear path to safety. Rioters briefly took control of the Senate chamber, and one participant was photographed carrying zip-tie handcuffs.
It would be hours before law enforcement cleared the Capitol of rioters and lawmakers were able to return to the ransacked chambers of government to resume the session. At around 3:00 a.m. on Jan. 7, Biden’s Electoral College victory was finally certified by Congress.
The attempted coup caused over $2.7 million dollars in damages to the Capitol. One rioter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by law enforcement while attempting to climb through a door to the Speaker’s Lobby. Multiple other participants died during the attack, and multiple law enforcement officers died in its aftermath. 175 law enforcement officials were injured while attempting to defend the Capitol and lawmakers from the mob.
Despite initial criticism and disavowal of Trump by Republicans, within weeks the GOP rallied around their then-former president to defend him from the fallout of the attack. In the four years since, Trump has come out unscathed from virtually every attempt to hold him accountable for his attempts to cling to power, in part because of how Republicans have been working to rewrite the history of the attack, claiming that those prosecuted for their involvements were victims of political persecution, and that the riot itself had been nothing more than some overenthusiastic tourism.
When Harris was asked how it felt to preside over the peaceful transfer of power, she replied with a simple message: “Democracy prevails.”
