No angry and deluded mob stormed the U.S. Capitol Monday. There was no violent invasion, no bludgeoning of police officers, no shocking vandalism, no mortal threat to members of Congress and the vice president. Nothing particularly newsworthy happened - which qualifies as very big news indeed.

What did take place at the Capitol was the routine certification of the result of the November election. It is now official: Donald Trump, who accepts the will of the voters only when he wins, will again be president. Our battered democracy survives.

Not without scars, however. The president-elect and most of the Republican Party want us all to forget that exactly four years ago - on Jan. 6, 2021 - Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss to Joe Biden sparked tragic events that were unprecedented in the nation’s history. For the first time, we did not witness a peaceful and orderly transfer of power from one political party to another.

What we saw instead were scenes we never thought could take place in this country. Rioters injured 140 police officers, bashing them with clubs and assailing them with bear spray. Members of Congress were forced to barricade themselves inside the House chamber, crouched behind their desks, until they could be led to safety. The mob roamed the halls chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” inspired by Trump’s insistent demand that his vice president unilaterally reject Biden’s victory. The insurrectionists - there is no other word for them - had gallows waiting outside.

And, back at the White House, Trump watched television coverage as these events unfolded, for hours refusing to make the slightest attempt to convince his supporters to desist. When he finally told them to leave the Capitol and go home, they complied. Now, as he returns to the White House, Trump pledges to pardon many of those convicted of federal crimes for their role in the violent assault.

It was a grievous injury to our democratic traditions, and it left a mark that was clearly visible Monday.

Historically, certification of the electoral vote was seen as ceremonial. The ritual usually came and went without drama. Senators or House members from the losing party might lodge an objection or two, but there was no suspense about the outcome. No crowds came to Washington to observe or try to influence a process that involved nothing more than simple arithmetic. Most Americans probably were not even aware that the certification was taking place.

This time, however, an area extending blocks around the Capitol was cordoned off, inaccessible by the public. The building was ringed not only by metal barricades of the kind that were overrun four years ago but also by an 8-foot fence designed to be unscalable. There was the kind of huge, visible police presence the city usually sees during major events such as inaugurations. All of this turned out to be overkill: The biggest snowstorm Washington has seen in several years kept the streets empty and quiet.

The certification process, too, had been fortified against antidemocratic assault. Legislation passed in 2022 made clear that the vice president’s role was only to preside, not to decide - and made it more difficult for members of Congress to raise theatrical objections. The idea was to make Jan. 6, once again, a day we can all safely ignore.

Something quite extraordinary did happen Monday, though.

Vice President Kamala Harris stood in front of Congress and presided over the formal certification of her own defeat in a free and fair election. If just 115,000 voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania had voted for her instead of Trump, she would be the president-elect. A defeat that narrow would be hard for anyone to accept, let alone celebrate. Yet that was her duty, and that is what she did.

Al Gore, as vice president, similarly presided over the certification of his loss to George W. Bush in 2001 - despite the vote-count dispute in Florida that was resolved in Bush’s favor by the Supreme Court. Richard M. Nixon, as vice president, presided over formalization of his razor-thin loss to John F. Kennedy in 1961.

That is the way our system is supposed to work. Nowhere in the Constitution is it written that losers must be gracious in defeat. Even now, after the 2022 reforms, it would be possible to file gratuitous objections to electoral votes. It would be possible for a losing candidate to erode confidence in the democratic process by falsely claiming victory.

Our democracy only functions if those who seek high office have at least a rudimentary sense of honor. Now that Trump has run his last presidential race, the nation must insist that the Republican Party relearn what honor means.