Despite the tensions between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the last debate, they did shake hands in tonight’s debate on February 7, 2020. In fact, they shook hands twice: once at the beginning of the debate (pictured above) and again at the end. And Twitter is taking notice.
At the beginning of the debate, Warren and Sanders seemed to get along fine and shook hands cordially.
Then at least one time during the debate, they referred to each other as being friends again and talked about how sometimes they agree on issues and sometimes they disagree.
But the big question on people’s minds was whether the two would shake hands at the end of the debate when the cameras aren’t watching quite as closely. And yes, they did. They didn’t talk for a long time, but they did shake hands and exchanged what appeared to be some kind words.
Here are some tweets about that moment. Not everyone was thrilled by the change of heart or convinced that the two are friends again. As you can see from the tweets below, reactions were mixed.
Oh, so tonight Warren *wants* to shake Bernie’s hand. 🙄#DemDebate
I notice that this time, Warren made a point to shake Bernie’s damned hand! #DemDebate
Warren decides to shake bernie’s hand tonight. No, not gonna forget. #DemDebates #ITrustBernie #NotMeUs
Warren and Bernie shook hands this time. I don’t wanna hear anymore about a supposed rift, the hatchet is clearly buried. #DemDebate
The candidates weren’t asked about the disagreements that were at the center of the last debate, and they seemed to leave those tensions behind them this time. Instead, the debate focused on other issues and disagreements, but for the most part Warren and Sanders were left alone in terms of their friendship. This was a big change from the last debate, when Warren refused to shake Sanders’ hand after the debate and instead asked, “I think you lied about me on national TV?” Things seemed much better between the two of them this time around.
But despite how Warren and Sanders talk about being friends, Tom Steyer was the one who came across as being Sanders’ biggest fan during the debate.