Remembering the Day of Insurrection

Congress certified Donald Trump's 2024 Electoral College victory in a quick, uneventful ceremony today—without a single objection from members of Congress or riots from supporters of the losing candidate.  It was a far cry from the scene on Capitol Hill four years ago, when Trump sought to carry out his plan to block Joe Biden's win and remain in power—actions for which he was indicted but will likely never face consequences.

On Jan. 6, 2021, 147 Congress Republicans objected to Biden's Electoral College
win during the joint session over which then-Vice President Mike Pence was presiding. Their objections were based on lies that the 2020 election was rife with fraud—allegations Republicans have never provided evidence to support. At the same time Republicans were objecting to the Electoral College results, a mob of Trump supporters was violently breaking into the U.S. Capitol to demand Pence not to accept Biden's victory, killing five people and injuring more than 140 law enforcement officers in the process.  One officer died on Jan. 7, 2021, a day after he was attacked while defending the Capitol. Four other officers who responded on Jan. 6 subsequently died by suicide. 

Trump and Republican lawmakers' behavior was so abhorrent and dangerous that the Democratic-controlled Congress changed the law in 2022 to prevent similar situations from unfolding in the future. The law officially made the vice president's role in the Electoral College certification ceremonial and raised the threshold to object to a state's Electoral College vote.

This year, not a single Democratic lawmaker objected to Trump's win. And Vice President Kamala Harris presided with grace and poise over the joint session of Congress to certify her own defeat.