Defiant Democracy: Chaos Looms as Harris Presides Over Her Own Defeat
Glenn Gilmour, 1/5/2025Harris to oversee Trump's victory certification amid tensions and Washington Post cartoonist resignation.
The nation braces itself for a historic moment as Congress prepares to certify Donald Trump's Electoral College victory on January 6th -- a day that will forever be etched in the annals of American democracy. While the process is typically a mere formality, this year's proceedings carry an air of heightened anticipation and potential controversy.
"The congressional joint session to count electoral votes on Monday is expected to be much less eventful than the certification four years ago that was interrupted by a violent mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who tried to stop the count and overturn the results of an election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden," the Associated Press reports, setting the stage for what promises to be a pivotal day.
In a stunning turn of events, Trump has reclaimed the presidency after a hard-fought 2024 campaign, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris -- who ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket following Biden's withdrawal -- to preside over the certification of her own defeat. "She will preside over the certification of her own loss, fulfilling the constitutional role in the same way that Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, did after the violence subsided on Jan. 6, 2021," the AP notes, underscoring the gravity of the moment.
The certification process, while typically routine, has been fortified with new safeguards following the chaos of 2021. The revised Electoral Count Act, passed in 2022, "more explicitly defines the role of the vice president after Trump aggressively pushed Pence to try and object to the Republican's defeat -- an action that would have gone far beyond Pence's ceremonial role." As the presiding officer, Harris will have no power to influence the outcome, a stark contrast to the pressure Pence faced from Trump.
Amidst the political theater, a Washington Post cartoonist has resigned in protest after the paper refused to publish a cartoon depicting Jeff Bezos -- the Post's owner -- groveling before Trump. Ann Telnaes, the cartoonist in question, accused the paper of censorship, stating, "I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations -- and some differences -- about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now."
The unpublished cartoon, a rough draft of which Telnaes shared, portrayed Bezos and other wealthy businessmen prostrating before Trump, holding bags of money aloft -- a scathing commentary on the perceived subservience of corporate America to the incoming president. Telnaes' resignation has ignited a firestorm of debate surrounding the role of editorial cartoons and the boundaries of free speech within the media landscape.
As the nation holds its collective breath, the stage is set for a momentous day in American politics -- one that will test the resilience of our democratic institutions and the resolve of those tasked with upholding them. Whether the proceedings unfold smoothly or devolve into chaos remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: January 6th, 2025, will be a date forever etched in the collective memory of the American people.
