Fully Official
In a smooth process despite a raging blizzard outside, the U.S. Congress yesterday went through extensive pomp and circumstance and formality, and confirmed that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance won the 2024 election over their nearest challengers, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
No one objected. No one protested.
Regardless of your politics, it had to be a gut punch for Kamala Harris to certify that she lost…just as Al Gore had to do 24 years ago.
Those on the left made a lot out of how peaceful it was, with no one objecting to electors. That, of course, happened four years ago, completely separate from any outsiders coming into the Capitol building.
But for full context, yesterday was the first time a Republican had won the presidency and no Democrat had objected to at least one state’s list of electors in 36 years, since the vote confirming the 1988 election. In every election since then, if a Republican was on track to win, Democrats objected to electors, just to put a few wrinkles into the process.
This is not to equate broadly what happened four years ago with any other time, including eight years ago when anti-Trump protestors caused a stir in Washington, D.C., leading to many arrests—all those charges were dropped by local officials.
Just saying that at the Constitutional level, Democrats sat on their hands yesterday for the first time since George H.W. Bush took office. They have a right to object, just as Republicans do…it’s all part of the process.
I dare not wish that Republicans getting out of their own way on the Speaker vote last Friday, and Democrats not gumming up the electoral college works yesterday, are signs of a more accommodating Congress, one that works together to get important matters passed—like national security, a budget, and a farm bill. We’re past the time for Christmas miracles, after all.
But hope does spring eternal.