It can be deduced from this that each of these illustrious institutions instinctively recognised, when approached by Mr Pence at a moment of extreme national emergency, that Donald Trump could no longer be regarded, de facto, as President. The Constitution they had sworn to defend was under attack. By him.
The riot was convened by him, and then egged on by him as it developed. It was a palpable attempt to stop the constitutional process dead in its tracks, ending the formal recognition of Joe Biden as the next President. To incite insurrection is sedition probably bordering on treason. To try by violence to prevent a rightfully elected president taking office certainly is. Donald Trump deserves to spend the rest of his days in prison.
So the last 24 hours in the United States saw: (a) the election of two Democratic senators from Georgia, thereby handing control of the Senate to the same party of government that will, from January 20, control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives; (b) the due process of confirming Joe Biden as the next President, who will be Chief Executive and Commander in Chief for four more years, (c) an egregious act of treason by a serving President and (d) a coup d’état that took place in the United States for the first, and let us earnestly hope, the last time.
What an epiphany! What a day!