Opinion | What This New Era of Power Looks Like in Washington

The second Trump administration isn’t starting with a whisper, exactly. But as Washington gears up for Donald Trump’s encore inauguration on Jan. 20, the vibe around town has been far less twitchy and traumatized than in the run-up to Joe Biden’s swearing-in four years ago. No election-fraud conspiracy-mongering 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.

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’s duty, Kamala Harris played nice with the Republican members who had so vigorously trashed her on the campaign trail. Even when Senator Deb Fischer’s husband refused 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.

Things were generally calm on the House side as well — 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 arm-twisting of the holdouts, including the president-elect chiming in from his golf course in Florida, Mr. Johnson squeaked through on the first ballot, gavel still in hand.

For the first time, Congress’s 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’s Day had the authorities even more on edge. “All of us are on high alert,” Thomas Manger, the head of the U.S. Capitol Police, assured the public a few days before the certification.

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 — for the triumph of democracy if not for the results themselves.

And just like that, it was done. Swift and smooth, as the founders intended.

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.

If only the coming Trump presidency could be half so chaos-free.