WASHINGTON: In an ironic turn driven by constitutional procedure, Kamala Harris, who lost the 2024 polls to Donald Trump after calling him a threat to democracy, on Monday certified his election to the White House as the 47th US president.
In another twist of fate, the constitutional procedure unfolded four years to the day (Jan 6) after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol after he claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him. There were no such doubts this time as lawmakers gathered in a capital blanketed by 6-8 inches of snow – which also kept crowds at bay – to uphold a process that has been the norm for more than two centuries.
As incumbent vice-president, and therefore president of the Senate, Harris was in the chair of joint session of Congress as lawmakers open sealed certificates from 50 US states, each of which contained a record of that state’s electoral votes. The results were read out loud and an official count was tallied and conveyed to the chair for her to formally declare the winner of the election.
The final certification, done in less than 30 minutes, backed up preliminary findings that Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 226.
Harris pre-empted any doubts that she would derail the process by releasing a clip before the event saying she will, as the vice-president, perform her “constitutional duty” and “sacred obligation…guided by love of country, loyalty to our constitution, and unwavering faith in the American people”.
“Peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy… it is what distinguishes our system of govt from monarchy or tyranny,” she said.
MAGA Republicans rejoiced at what they saw as discomfiture of the defeated Democratic candidate having to certify her own defeat as much as the victory of her opponent after a bitterly fought election. Only twice in recent US history has this happened: Richard Nixon was vice-president when he had to certify his opponent John F Kennedy’s win, and Al Gore was vice-president when he lost to George W. Bush. “Being put in the position of certifying an election that you lost has to be one of the most difficult and humbling experiences that you could have in public life,” David Thomas, a former aide to Gore told ‘The Hill’.
MAGA megaphones also rejoiced at the imminence of Trump bailing out Jan 6 insurrectionists. “President Trump will be giving clemency, pardons & commutations, to J6’ers!!” Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X. There will now be a two-week political lull before the Trump is inaugurated on Jan 20. The 10 week gap between vote and inauguration was meant to accommodate, among other things, slow communication and adverse weather, before the advent of telephone and automobiles.
