Watching the news last night you had to remind yourself that this was the United States. That aside from the chaos and mayhem on our screens, this is the home of colleagues and companions, people we work with, learn with, admire, enjoy, love and respect. Our closest neighbours and friends. For many of us, this is also our home – this is America – the bastion of Democracy. This was not the America we know.

The tension surfaced Tuesday night after American’s flight 1291 from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport landed at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., and was taxiing to the gate, when supporters of Donald Trump got into an angry shouting match with other passengers on a Washington-bound American Airlines plane after they projected a “Trump 2020” logo on the cabin ceiling and walls.

The Trump supporters said a passenger threatened to kill them, and there was yelling back and forth. A flight attendant intervened, telling one passenger in the aisle to sit down.

“Our team is reviewing this incident,” said American Airlines spokesman Curtis Blessing. “We applaud our outstanding crewmembers for their professionalism in de-escalating a tense onboard situation and getting our customers to their destination safely.”

American said law enforcement was not called, and that passengers deplaned and dispersed without further incident.

The same night Trump supporters heckled Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah in an airport, prior to a flight to Washington, D.C.

His counterpart, Sen. Mike Lee, is a staunch Trump supporter but called for civility after the video made the rounds.

“Harassing your political opponents on a plane is not acceptable,” he said in a tweet.

Acceptable or not, Trump mocked Romney during a rally Wednesday, saying, “I wonder if he enjoyed his flight in last night.”

Romney shrugged off the airport confrontation in comments to reporters Wednesday, calling it “the nature of politics, unfortunately.” He did not soften his own rhetoric on Trump, saying the president “disrespected the American voters, has dishonoured the election system and has disgraced the office of the presidency.”

Meanwhile, Congress has formally validated Joe Biden’s presidential election victory on a day that saw a time-honoured ceremony become a nightmare of unprecedented political terror.

The House and Senate certified the Democrat’s electoral college win early Thursday after a violent throng of pro-Trump rioters spent hours Wednesday running rampant through the Capitol. A woman was fatally shot, windows were bashed and the mob forced shaken lawmakers and aides to flee the building, shielded by Capitol Police.

The rampage began shortly after Trump yet again repeated his unfounded claims of election fraud to thousands of rallying demonstrators he’d invited to Washington.

Many then surged to the Capitol after, almost unbelievably, the president of the United States incited them to go there as lawmakers debated the electoral votes. During the course of the evening, Twitter locked Trump’s account for stirring violence.

George W. Bush, the 43rd US president, issued a statement saying, “It is a sickening and heartbreaking sight. This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic – not our democratic republic.”

More than six hours after the violence erupted, lawmakers resumed their session.

Thirteen Republican senators and dozens of GOP representatives had planned to force debate and votes on perhaps six different states’ votes.

The assault on the Capitol made some Republicans squeamish about trying to overturn Biden’s win, and challenges were lodged only against Arizona and Pennsylvania. Both efforts lost overwhelmingly.

Biden defeated Trump by 306-232 electoral votes and will be inaugurated Jan. 20.