i want to bring in nbc's garrett haake on capitol hill, michael hardaway, former communications director to bring in former aide to then speakers john boehner and paul ryan, brendan buck. it's good to have all of you here. if i can, garrett, let me start with you, and just talk about the mood on capitol, and are there conversations going on about how this was a peaceful transfer of power, that kamala harris did do what is expected of the person who is presiding over the senate, which is to ensure that the american people's votes are heard. >> yeah, chris, you heard the vice president there, essentially building on what she said to me on the way in to the chamber, which was that democracy needs to be upheld by the people. essentially saying she was here to do her job, now the american people need to continue to do theirs. trying to turn january 6th and the process of counting the electoral votes and certifying them, back into a normal, perfunctory, standard piece of the process and not have it be remembered for what it was four years ago. the mood here on capitol hill has been a little bi

jeremy peters and michael hardaway are in studio. thank you all so much for watching this along with me. claire, we were speaking before we went into that certification process about how we are very much a divided country, 75 c million people plus change voted for kamala harris, 77 million for donald trump but it was not a majority. she has called donald trump a fascist. she has said that he would abuse the powers of the presidency. she warned he should never again stand behind the seal of president of the united states. and i think it is reasonable to suspect that many of the 75of million americans who voted for her feel much the same way, claire. so as we witness what we just saw for those people who feel as kamala harris does, for democrats, former colleagues of yours who are in congress, and for just voters, what is their role now in preserving and protecting this democracy going forward? >> well, it's going to bego interesting. john thune has a big job because he has already said very clearly that he wants to protect the filibus

mike ricci, michael hardaway, jonathan capehart, and brandon buck as well. jonathan, to you, what do you make of all the drama, but actually can you congratulate the house for having done this on one vote? >> yes, actually, you can. and in fact, i put here there's an asterisk, i believe, next to speaker johnson's victory, to my mind, simply because he had to delay the closing of the vote in order to get the votes needed to become the speaker. but i give him major credit for having the foresight to not gavel out the vote and do the strong arming he needed to do to get to the magic number of 218, which he got. but i think this is where the good news for the speaker probably ends because now he goes into leading a house majority that as we've been talking about since election day, and all morning long, he can only lose about one or two votes to get anything done without democratic help, and if he gets democratic help, votes from minority leader hakeem jeffries, there will be hell to pay for him, depending on what the votes are for with his republican caucus. so