{"id":2959,"date":"2025-01-10T17:50:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T17:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=2959"},"modified":"2025-01-10T17:50:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T17:50:19","slug":"opinion-what-this-new-era-of-power-looks-like-in-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=2959","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | What This New Era of Power Looks Like in Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The second Trump administration isn\u2019t starting with a whisper, exactly. But as Washington gears up for Donald Trump\u2019s encore inauguration on Jan. 20, the vibe around town has been far less twitchy and traumatized than in the run-up to Joe Biden\u2019s swearing-in four years ago. No election-fraud conspiracymongering from inside the halls of government. No vandalizing of the Capitol. So far, the post-election, pre-inaugural stretch has been comparatively, and blessedly, boring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Members of the 119th Congress took their oaths on Jan. 3 and settled in quietly. While swearing in the senators, as is the vice president\u2019s duty, Kamala Harris played nice with the Republican members who had so vigorously trashed her on the campaign trail. Even when Senator Deb Fischer\u2019s husband <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/07\/us\/politics\/deb-fischer-husband-handshake.html\" title=\"\">refused<\/a> to shake her hand, she rolled right on with a wry smile and a flash of raised eyebrows. Her huddling up with the daughters of David McCormick, the new Republican senator from Pennsylvania, was an adorable tribute to the peaceful transfer of power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Things were generally calm on the House side as well \u2014 grading on a curve, of course. Even the tension over whether Republicans would dissolve into squabbling over who should be the speaker ultimately fizzled. With some last-minute <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/03\/us\/politics\/119th-congress-scene.html\" title=\"\">arm-twisting<\/a> of the holdouts, including the president-elect chiming in from his golf course in Florida, Mike Johnson squeaked through on the first ballot for House speaker, gavel still in hand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/01\/04\/national-security-measures-major-events-violence\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">For the first time<\/a>, Congress\u2019s certification of the election was designated a special security event, with all the precautionary hoopla that entails. Fencing went up around the Capitol, streets were blocked off, and extra law enforcement officials were put on duty. The deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year\u2019s Day had the authorities even more on edge. \u201cAll of us are on high alert,\u201d Thomas Manger, the head of the U.S. Capitol Police, assured the public a few days before the certification.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., the process took a little over half an hour and was precisely as pro forma as intended. As president of the Senate, Ms. Harris gaveled the joint session to order; the presentation of electoral votes proceeded alphabetically by state, without objection or other incident; Ms. Harris announced the final tally: 312 for Mr. Trump and 226 for herself; as the session came to a close, the whole chamber rose in applause \u2014 for the triumph of democracy if not for the results themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And just like that, it was done. Swift and smooth, as the founders intended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Indeed, the biggest drama of the day was not man-made. In the wee hours of Jan. 6, a winter storm had rolled in, leaving Washingtonians digging out from the biggest snowfall in a couple of years. The federal government and schools shut down. But certification waits for no one. Workers rushed to clear the snow from the Capitol steps. And as lawmakers convened to bless the election results, with the Capitol grounds wrapped in a thick blanket of white, the whole scene was almost serene.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If only the coming Trump presidency could be half so chaos-free.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The second Trump administration isn\u2019t starting with a whisper, exactly. But as Washington gears up for Donald Trump\u2019s encore inauguration on Jan. 20, the vibe around town has been far&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":413,"featured_media":2960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[2233,57,755,1777],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opinion | What This New Era of Power Looks Like in Washington - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=2959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion | What This New Era of Power Looks Like in Washington - Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The second Trump administration isn\u2019t starting with a whisper, exactly. 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