Trump gets the peaceful transfer of power his supporters violently refused four years ago – Mother Jones

Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the certification of Trump’s Electoral College victory — and her own defeat — in Congress on Monday.Mother Jones illustration; Matt Rourke/AP, Mihoko Owada/STAR MAX/IPx/AP

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Four more years on the day Donald Trump incited a violent attack on the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, Congress confirmed his Electoral College victory as the 47th President of the United States.

As required by her role as President of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris oversaw the ceremony, which marked her own defeat. In doing so—and in a process fraught with irony—Harris was addressed as “Madam President,” referring to her role as president of the Senate as the election results for each state were announced. The final statement: 312 to 226.

In a video posted to X Monday morning, Harris drew an implicit contrast to Trump’s approach to his election loss: “This duty is a sacred obligation — one I will uphold guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution, and unwavering faith in the American people.”

Some Republicans seemed less high-minded, instead peddling revisionist history and suggestions that the label “uprising” to describe Jan. 6 was exaggerated. In a particularly absurd example, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) erroneously claimed in a post on X that the rioters consisted of “thousands of peaceful grandmothers” who took “a self-guided, albeit unauthorized, tour of the US Capitol building.” Adding to the misinformation was rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who told a reporter: “January 6th was not a riot. I’m absolutely sick and tired and sick of the Democrats’ narrative, the media narrative, and it’s a total lie.”

As my colleague Mark Follman has recounted, January 6, 2021 was indeed a heavily armed riot that saw 140 police officers hurtthe death of four participantsand five police officers who had been to the Capitol. More than 1,200 people have been charged for their actions on Jan. 6, according to the Justice Department — and Trump has promised to pardon them.

Democrats went to great lengths Monday to emphasize that they did what Trump and his allies did not: accept an election loss and facilitate a peaceful transition. They also reminded Americans of what actually happened on January 6.

“Today, Congress will do its constitutional duty once again to certify the election results – a stark contrast from the Republicans who tried to deny the election 4 years ago,” Rep. Jim Clyburn (DS.C.) wrote X Monday morning.

Several Democratic members of Congress also shared photos of their destroyed offices and damage to the Capitol four years ago. “The horrific videos and photos from the riot against our Capitol on Jan. 6 confirm as much as ever: The power of the people must always matter more than the people in power,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrotealong with images of broken glass and overturned furniture.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) shared a picture of what he said was Capitol Police barricading his office doors and windows “to protect my staff and I from the violent mob that was right outside my window.”

In an op-ed published in Washington Post on Sunday, President Biden warned of the importance of preserving the facts of the Jan. 6 “assault” for the history books: “There has been a tireless effort to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day. To tell us that we not what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some sort of partisan obsession. That’s not what happened. We can not allow the truth to be lost.”

Biden also urged to “remember January 6, 2021 every year. To remember it as a day our democracy was put to the test and triumphed. To remember that democracy — even in America — is never guaranteed.”

Of course, such warnings to remember what happened on January 6 were absent from Trump’s communications. Early Monday morning, man wrote on Truth Social: “CONGRESS CERTIFIES OUR GREAT ELECTION TODAY – A BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY. MAGA!”