The Memo: Echoes of an earlier Jan. 6 reverberate as Trump’s win is certified by Congress

It was routine — and that was the point.

Congress certified President-elect Trump’s election victory in a smooth and relatively brief ceremony Monday.

The normalcy of the occasion was a juxtapositional reminder of the events of four years before, when a mob laid siege to the Capitol, coming ominously close to keeping Trump in power following an election he lost.

This time around, it was Trump’s opponent, Vice President Harris, who oversaw proceedings in her role as president of the Senate.