Julian Zelizer, CNN Political Analyst and Professor

"Wednesday was certainly a day of celebration. After a month of turbulence, danger, and political instability, President Joe Biden was sworn into office. The transition of power happened. A new commander in chief, who is committed to the health of our democratic institutions, started his term.

"Under tremendous stress, the system depended on individuals and organizations who took steps to rein in the chaos. There were of course the millions of voters and activists who mobilized over the years to make certain that Democrats and independents leaning their way turned out and enjoyed a sizable popular vote victory in 2020.

"Were it not for the hard work of activists like Stacey Abrams and the New Georgia Project, for instance, Georgia wouldn't necessarily have turned blue. There were thousands of suburban women who have been doing the hard work of registering and canvassing at the local level since 20 to make certain that a reckless commander in chief did not win reelection.

"Organizations such as Indivisible worked tirelessly throughout the election. With the pandemic threatening the ability of Americans to vote in person, it took a huge push all of these groups and other volunteers to work the phone banks, send the texts and go online to make sure that everyone understood how to send in their vote.

"The system also wouldn't have worked had it not been for the judges ruling on challenges to voting in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania who rebuffed the administration's campaign to discredit legitimate votes based on false claims of voter . The judges spanned those appointed Democratic presidents to others appointed Trump himself, none of whom were willing to move forward with his claims. Had any of them done so, the dominos could have fallen very quickly in a different direction.

"We needed the talented reporters who worked within a chaotic media landscape to keep a clear eye on what was happening in the post-election period. There were numerous stories over the past month that kept hammering away at the falsehoods behind the President's claims, pushing back against allegations of massive and showing through reality-based analysis what was real. More reporters and headline writers were willing to talk directly about what the Republicans were doing in honest terms, calling out lies for what they are.

Members of Congress deserve credit for stepping back into the chambers to finish the certification process after having their lives threatened on January 6. Although some Republicans continued with their groundless election rhetoric, many returned trembling to make sure that the mob did not win.

"The system also depended on the leaders in armed forces who publicly made clear that they served the country, not the President, and to everyone who made sure that Wednesday's events ran smoothly. Had the rallies and violence that took place on January 6 happened on Inauguration Day, the situation could have been perilous. But after the massive failures of the insurrection, this time all the authorities involved made sure that the events in Washington could proceed smoothly.

"These are perilous times, and we shouldn't try to move forward in order to magically heal. The problems exposed in our system are real. We can't always depend on people doing the right thing. That means we need our new leaders to spend time investigating what happened to make sure that stronger checks and balances are put into place to prevent any unhinged presidents from doing what Donald Trump did in future lame-duck periods. Otherwise, the outcome might be very different the next time around."

[cnn.com]