This is the news of the day here. The fact that the US Congress was not beneath siege shouldn't be a narrative at all – the fact that it was tells you the whole lot that you must find out about American politics. In Washington, DC, we've been getting ready for this January 6 since January 6 got here to outline the fragility of American democracy – the riots, the destruction and the demise, as a mob fought to overturn the result of the election. There was no drama at the Capitol this time as they certified Donald Trump’s victory. If he had been defeated, it may need been a unique story. The climate in Washington DC didn't lend itself to any protests: there was up to 30 cm of snow in the American capital. After which there was security. Picture: A Trump supporter holds flags and banners close to the US Capitol. Photograph: Reuters The Capitol complicated took on a ghostly air as 9-foot-high fencing cordoned off an space a number of hundred ft in radius across the seat of democracy. It was a security operation extra typical of a army base than a political venue. The police have been eager to emphasise a extra aggressive posture – extra our bodies, coaching and gear. This is not shocking, given the failures of four years in the past. Inside the House, this election certification was superficial and procedural.


Image: Pages carrying packing containers containing Electoral School votes walk via the Rotunda to the Home. Photograph: AP The ceremony of carrying votes in mahogany packing containers went off and not using a hitch – it’s the paperwork that modifications the presidency and vice chairman. Kamala Harrissupervising the ceremony, duly accepted the terms and circumstances by saying a Asset victory. Gone was the “love me” smile of the campaign path as she appeared, a defeated candidate, before the cameras afterward. Whereas she hated this media engagement, she recognized a duty to make sure a peaceful switch of power, calling it “some of the essential pillars of our democracy.”


Picture: A sign on a safety fence close to the U.S. Capitol. Photograph: AP US politicians carried out the ceremony in a Home chamber where they have been mobbed 4 years in the past, in a building where they hid and ran for his or her lives, where there was fuel tear fuel, broken glass and gunfire as a mob rampaged inside the Capitol. . Outdoors, a handful of supporters and kinfolk of the convicted Jan. 6 rioters marched around the complicated to spotlight their claims of injustice. Donald Trump has stated he will pardon lots of them after his inauguration on January 20. Learn extra on Sky Information:Seven US states declare states of emergency following winter stormTrump’s attack on wind generators is ‘misinformed’ As the winter night time chilled Washington as soon as again, a metropolis and a nation might breathe a sigh of aid that a peaceful proceeding handed without incident. Some order has been restored to American politics, and America might be grateful. Nevertheless, the following query remains: what if Trump had misplaced? This can be a man who spent months sowing doubt concerning the integrity of the election and laying the groundwork – as many saw it – to challenge the result if he was the dropping candidate. Is peace restored to American politics only with the victory of a specific candidate? In that case, it’s not a victory in any respect.