In the wake of yesterday’s reprehensible attack on the U.S. Capitol, many prominent people – including journalists and politicians – have likened the United States to a banana republic. The slander reveals a faulty understanding of banana republics and of democracy in America.

In a banana republic, mob violence determines the exercise of power.  In the United States, law enforcement officials quash mob violence so that the people’s representatives can exercise power in accordance with the rule of law and constitutional government.

Congress’s completing its certification of electors — with our law enforcement heroes having restored order in the Capitol — at 3:40 AM today shows the strength of American political institutions and represents a victory for the rule of law & constitutional government in America.