The January 6 certification ceremony is a far cry from the storming of the Capitol four years ago

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Cover Image for The January 6 certification ceremony is a far cry from the storming of the Capitol four years ago

This is the information of the day here. The fact that the US Congress was not underneath siege shouldn't be a story in any respect – the truth that it was tells you every thing it's essential to find out about American politics.

In Washington, DC, we now have been getting ready for this January 6 since January 6 came to outline the fragility of American democracy – the riots, the destruction and the demise, as a mob fought to overturn the result of the election.

There was no drama at the Capitol this time as they licensed Donald Trump’s victory. If he had been defeated, it may need been a unique story.

The climate in Washington DC didn't lend itself to any protests: there was as much as 30 cm of snow within the American capital. After which there was safety.

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A Trump supporter holds flags and banners near the US Capitol. Photograph: Reuters

The Capitol complicated took on a ghostly air as 9-foot-high fencing cordoned off an area several hundred ft in radius across the seat of democracy. It was a safety operation more typical of a army base than a political venue.

The police have been keen to emphasise a more aggressive posture – extra our bodies, training and gear. This isn't shocking, given the failures of four years in the past.

Contained in the Home, this election certification was superficial and procedural.

Pages carrying boxes containing Electoral College votes walk through the Rotunda to the House of Representatives for a joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College votes, at the Capitol, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/José Luis Magana)
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Pages carrying packing containers containing Electoral School votes walk via the Rotunda to the Home. Photograph: AP

The ceremony of carrying votes in mahogany packing containers went off and not using a hitch – it’s the paperwork that modifications the presidency and vice chairman. Kamala Harrissupervising the ceremony, duly accepted the phrases and circumstances by saying a Asset victory.

Gone was the “love me” smile of the campaign trail as she appeared, a defeated candidate, before the cameras afterward.

While she hated this media engagement, she acknowledged a duty to ensure a peaceable switch of power, calling it “one of the necessary pillars of our democracy.”

A sign is seen on a security fence near the U.S. Capitol on the day of a joint session of Congress to certify the election of Donald Trump, amid a winter storm that brought snow, Ice and freezing temperatures across a large part of the United States arrived, in Washington, United States, January 6, 2025. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
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A sign on a safety fence close to the U.S. Capitol. Photograph: AP

US politicians carried out the ceremony in a Home chamber the place they have been mobbed 4 years ago, in a building where they hid and ran for his or her lives, the place there was fuel tear fuel, damaged glass and gunfire as a mob rampaged inside the Capitol. .

Outdoors, a handful of supporters and kinfolk of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters marched across the complicated to spotlight their claims of injustice. Donald Trump has stated he'll pardon lots of them after his inauguration on January 20.

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As the winter night time chilled Washington as soon as again, a city and a nation might breathe a sigh of aid that a peaceable continuing handed with out incident.

Some order has been restored to American politics, and America could be grateful.

Nevertheless, the next query remains: what if Trump had lost?

This can be a man who spent months sowing doubt concerning the integrity of the election and laying the groundwork – as many saw it – to problem the result if he was the dropping candidate.

Is peace restored to American politics solely with the victory of a specific candidate?

In that case, it’s not a victory in any respect.