Vibes of January 6th

Today is January 6th, a significant day in the United States’ political calendar. It is the day when Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of the American senate, must swallow the bitter pill of overseeing a joint session of Congress that will officially certify the victory of President-elect Donald Trump at the election held on 5th November, last year. She would thereby be also certifying her own loss at the poll. Trump as Republican candidate trounced Democratic opponent Harris in the election, dashing her hope of becoming the country’s first female commander-in-chief and securing a return to the White House after he himself had suffered defeat in the 2020 election by outgoing President Joe Biden.

Under U.S. law, Congress on the sixth of January following a presidential poll meets at 1 o’clock in the afternoon in a joint session where state electors, known as the electoral college, would present a slate of votes for certification by the national legislature. This procedure formally concludes the process of electing the country’s president. At today’s meet, the electors representing each of America’s 50 states will be affirming that Trump comfortably secured a second term in power at the November 2024 poll, having defeated Harris who by law will be the presiding officer at the Congress joint session. Trump won 312 electoral votes – more than the 270 needed to form a government and head above the 226 that Harris got – to emerge tops at the November election. He also won the greater number of popular votes in that poll, but it is the electoral votes in reckoning for Congress certification.

Another significance of today’s procedure in Congress is its marking the fourth anniversary of a violent mob attack on Capitol Hill. President-elect Trump is widely believed to have instigated that mob attack in 2021 to abort the certification of the 2020 election victory by Biden to whom Harris was running mate. Harris, then a senator from California and vice president-elect, was at the Capitol earlier that day for a legislative committee meeting and had left by the time the mob struck. On the first anniversary of the attack, she recalled that dark day for American democracy in a speech, saying: “My thoughts immediately turned not only to my colleagues, but to my staff who had been forced to seek refuge in our office, converting filing cabinets into barricades… On January 6th, we all saw what our nation would look like if forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful.”

The cruel irony is that Harris is now saddled with the task of presiding at the certification of the arrowhead of those “forces” she spoke against. Reports said it wasn’t often that a vice president, who ran as a presidential candidate, had to preside over the confirmation of their rival’s win and, by implication, their own loss. A similar circumstance faced Al Gore, Bill Clinton’s vice president, when he lost the 2000 election to George W. Bush after a gruelling court battle and an agonising recount. Richard Nixon previously had a taste of the bitter pill after losing to John F. Kennedy in 1960; but he got compensated by being the beneficiary on 6th January, 1969 when Hubert Humphrey – another vice president who like Harris undertook a sprint campaign following Lyndon Johnson’s resignation – had the task of certifying Nixon’s 1968 victory. Humphrey chose to skip the day in Congress, though, and left it to senate president pro tempore Richard Russell to officially affirm his (Humphrey’s) loss by certifying Nixon’s win. 

In none of the instances, however, had the winner previously been president. And certainly, none of them saw their victory certified on the fourth anniversary of a day they instigated a mob to disrupt the constitutional process in Congress after weeks of refusing to accept a defeat confirmed by courts in various jurisdictions where it was challenged. On the afternoon of 6th January, 2021, as Congress was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential poll, a violent and heavily armed mob of then outgoing President Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. As lawmakers and legislative staff were herded to secure locations or barricaded behind doors, the rioters pushed past severely outnumbered Capitol police officers, breaking windows and vandalising offices; many spewing outrage toward members of Congress, particularly then Vice President Mike Pence, for having resisted attempts by Trump to overturn the election in his favor. Five people got killed, including a Capitol police officer who was beaten by rioters. No fewer than 140 other officers were injured in the mob assault as Trump remained all the while in the White House, allegedly watching the chaos unfold on television without doing much to rein it in.


“In her concession speech following the November 2024 poll, Harris pledged smooth transfer of power… Today’s procedure in Congress presents a platform to walk that talk.”


Moments before that invasion of Congress, the then president held a rally on White House lawn where he asked his supporters to fight like hell. “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he told the supporters, adding: “I know everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

When the supporters did march in their thousands on the Congress proceedings, however, they were anything but peaceful. Their aim, namely stopping the certification process in Congress, was informed by unfounded conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 poll that Trump himself most vigorously plied.

In their mission to stop the certification of Biden’s victory, they had a clear target: Vice President Pence. For days, Trump had been pressuring Pence to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 poll results. “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now,” he had said from the rally stage just before the riot. U.S. law clearly provides that  Pence did not have the power to stop the process, but that did not stop Trump’s supporters from marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, chanting: “Hang Mike Pence!”

The events of that day were the subject of a bipartisan legislative probe that conducted over 1,000 interviews, reviewed more than a million documents and subpoenaed some 100 witnesses over 18 months. The voluminous report that resulted from the probe stated in part: “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” The Capitol insurrection was the basis on which U.S. House of Representatives voted in February 2021 to impeach Trump, but the Senate acquitted him. 

In her concession speech following the November 2024 poll, Harris pledged smooth transfer of power. Biden has himself severally vowed commitment to a peaceful transition. Today’s procedure in Congress presents a platform to walk that talk. In recent remarks, Harris has been speaking about “staying in the fight” and  hinting she won’t be stepping off the political stage anytime soon. In a call with donors and supporters late last November, she said: “The fight that fueled our campaign – a fight for freedom and opportunity – that did not end on November 5.” Analyses said she used the word “fight” 19 times during that call. 

Also in an address mid-December to students in Maryland, Harris told the young ones: “Many people have come up to me, telling me they feel tired, maybe even resigned. Folks have said to me that they’re not sure whether they have the strength, much less the desire, to stay in the fight. But let me be very clear: no one can walk away. We must stay in the fight, every one of us.” Today’s procedure in Congress will show she wasn’t using the word “fight” in the sense Trump did four years ago.

All things given, the American president-elect will be sworn into office on 20th January and Biden will most likely be there in Washington to see him take the oath; never mind that Trump skipped his turn when Biden took the oath in 2021. 


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