Supporters of Donald Trump gather outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on January 06, 2021. Rioters stormed the Capitol as lawmakers were set to sign off on Joe Biden's electoral victory.

A few dates are indelibly etched in the American psyche, so precious or infamous that we know their significance even without the year: July 4. Dec. 7. Sept. 11. And — so it seems from this vantage point at least — Jan. 6.

It was four years ago to the day that then-President Donald Trump fomented an attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. While that insurrection failed, while he has never apologized for it, while he persists to this day in his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, Mr. Trump returned from what ought to have been permanent political exile to win reelection.

Today, he will be the beneficiary of the very ritual he sought to corrupt in 2021 — Congress’ certification of the Electoral........

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