What a difference four years make. On this January 6th, Washington awoke on Monday morning to find itself transformed by a dazzling coat of snow which had fallen silently across the city overnight. It left the streets deserted, the malls and monuments around Capitol Hill in a state of exalted beauty and the memory of the marauding, shocking riots of four years ago all the more unreal.
This was the backdrop against which Kamala Harris, in one of her last duties as vice-president, confirmed the election of Donald Trump, the man who defeated her in the election. This year’s electoral college confirmation ceremony could not have been further removed from four years ago. Blood and shattered glass were replaced by formality and the cool grace with which Harris performed her duty.
Thousands of additional police troops were drafted into the city to ensure this year’s process would pass peacefully. The Capitol was guarded by two border fences. But the city was white, ghostly. “Don’t take for granted how quiet the Capitol will be today,” warned Connecticut senator Chris Murphy in a post. “Had Harris won, today would likely have been another bloodbath.”
The events of four years ago will long stalk the darker reaches of the American subconscious and the heavy security served to ward off the nightmares of four years ago as much as anything.
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“The thugs who were part of that violent mob on January 6 desecrated the Capitol, threatened to hang the vice-president, assassinate the speaker of the House and hunt down members of Congress. They were not peace-loving individuals,” stated Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming Democratic House minority speaker.
“History will always remember the attempted insurrection and we will never allow the violence that unfolded in plain sight to be whitewashed.”
[ US Congress certifies Trump election victory on anniversary of Capitol riotOpens in new window ]
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic figurehead and speaker four years ago, was there in the House chamber for the joint session of both houses. For centuries, the January certification verification was a low-key affair: legislative bookkeeping. Now, the date is etched permanently into the American subconscious. The date is a coda for the volatility of US electoral politics.
Harris joined Richard Nixon (1960) and Al Gore (2000) in the unhappy task of confirming the results of their victorious presidential election opponents. The cameo was another tantalising glimpse of a political charisma she never fully unlocked.
“Within that whole number, the majority is 270. Donald J Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D Harris” – and there was an eruption of applause here, from both sides of the House, and ovations before she completed the sentence “has received 226 votes”.
It was all over in 40 minutes. So, four years after he stood on the Ellipse exhorting his supporters, Donald Trump has come full circle. This time, his election as the 47th president was made official. The snow still fell as the senators and representatives scattered for their offices, their fireplaces. The weather reports said it was the heaviest fall Washington had seen in years.
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