This year there will almost certainly not be a half-naked man wearing a bison hat on the platform. It is also unlikely that a violent mob will beat up the police and force their way into the chamber, threatening deputies with hanging. No, Trump has won and that means that the January 6 plenary session to certify the result of the US presidential elections will probably go back to being what it has always been: a boring and decorative session, whose main interest this year is the morbidity of see Kamala Harris presiding in person at the funeral of her presidential ambitions.
It is impressive how calm things remain when the only candidate who had announced that he would not accept defeat wins. How relaxed will be the Republican congressmen who in 2021 ran terrified through the hallways and who would later say that it was all a joke and that the assailants were there “for tourism”. This year, instead of 147 Republican legislators who tried to overturn the legitimate result of the pollsDemocratic leaders do not foresee more than some testimonial objection to the certification of Donald Trump’s victory.
Outside the Capitol, on the street, it does not seem that the situation is going to be very similar to that of four years ago. The Biden administration has declared the session of Congress to certify the result a “National Special Security Event” and a much stronger police deployment is expected than in 2021. It is also not clear that it is necessary, since there are no massive demonstrations planned and the outgoing president (as far as is known) will not hold a rally that same day in which invite your supporters to “walk with him to the Capitol” in the face of an “assault on our democracy” because “the country does not recover with weakness.” Biden does not plan it.
An important and boring ceremony
Thus, without an imminent threat of violence and coup, the January 6 program loses informative tension. Instead, it will be what had traditionally been: The two houses of Congress will meet in a joint session, the electoral votes from each state will be counted, and Vice President Kamala Harris will try not to be too upset when she announces that the winner is Donald Trump. Although a fifth of the members of each chamber could challenge the result for irregularities and force the two plenary sessions to rule on their accusations, it is unlikely.
In fact, the drama of a certification halt has become more difficult since 2022. With the memory of the assault on the Capitol still fresh, Democrats and Republicans then agreed to modify a law of 1887 which defined how the votes were counted in that ceremonial session and which seemed to be written in Sanskrit. Trump twisted that language four years ago to try to get his vice president and other public officials to “reject” the results of several states based on false accusations of electoral fraud. The reform clarifies the process and raises the necessary number of legislators who can make a formal objection to a state’s result.
In short, this January 6 there will be more security for Congress to count the votes without fearing an assault and also an improved and scoundrel-proof procedure (we believe) to fulfill that function. And this despite the fact that it is probably not necessary: unlike 2021, this year the only candidate who threatened not to accept the result of the polls has won, so he has no interest in derailing the process. There probably won’t be any assault or blackmail this Monday, although perhaps that man dressed as a bison could make a comeback. After all, already has been released from prison.
#Congress #certify #Trumps #victory #time #storm #Capitol #dressed #bison
