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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris made a big show on Monday out of certifying Donald Trump as the official winner of the 2024 presidential election. The lawful certifier is the vice president.
Meaning both Biden and Harris have had to certify Trump.
But on Monday, the Democrat president and vice president wanted to show that they could handle the peaceful transfer of power on the fourth anniversary of the Capitol Hill riot.
But what they aren't telling you - what no Democrat wants to recall right now - is that the acceptance of Trump as the rightful winner marks the first time THIS CENTURY that Democrats haven't challenged the election results in some fashion.
In 2022, Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin said on the House floor, "Do you know that every Jan. 6, every four years, whenever any Republican has been elected president over the course of the last few decades, same date, same time, same place, we have had Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives, objecting and debating?"
"All sorts of different objections, that’s been our process," Zeldin added.
His remarks were controversial at the time.
But he was right.
As PolitiFact noted, "Federal law calls for the U.S. Congress to meet at 1 p.m. on Jan. 6 following the meeting of electors to certify the election results. The electoral votes of each state are read in alphabetical order. During that meeting, the president of the Senate shall call for objections, if any."
"Each objection must be made in writing, with the signature of at least one member of the House and one senator," PolitiFact observed.
The outlet then reported in their fact check, "Attempts to object to election results have been made in some fashion by House Democrats in 2001, 2005, and 2017, following the successful campaigns of George W. Bush and Trump, both Republicans. One senator supported the objection in 2005, though the Senate and the House ultimately did not uphold that objection."
So Biden and Harris cheerfully certifying the election results on Monday was an exception to how Democrats usually approach certification.
Not the rule.
In 2001, Democrats tried to block Bush’s electoral votes. A Congressional Democrat tried to challenge the electoral vote count in 2005 when Bush was re-elected. When Trump won his first term, Democrats tried to object to electoral votes from multiple states in 2017.
Harris released a video on Monday vowing to do her “constitutional duty” as vice president by certifying the results of the 2024 election.
“Today, I will perform my constitutional duty as Vice President to certify the results of the 2024 election. This duty is a sacred obligation — one I will uphold guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution, and unwavering faith in the American people,” she said.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can tout their certification of the incoming Republican president's electoral votes all they want.
But they can't pretend this is something Democrats always seamlessly do.
Because they don't.