The last time Congressional Democrats peaceably accepted a GOP victory in the Electoral College was 1988. In 2000, 2004 and 2016, Democrats in Congress objected, tried to object, and generally disrupted the process of certifying the Electoral College vote. They did so with no substantive grounds, instead just for the political theater of it.

Today’s certification of the Electoral College wasn’t just a ceremony, but it also wasn’t a debate over who should be president. The question before the chamber was whether the votes being presented were valid votes from valid electors. No Democrats made any case that the electors were improperly chosen or their votes cast or counted improperly.