Sanders endorses Biden via live stream to help him defeat 'the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country'
Less than a week after dropping his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday formally endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for that role to “make certain” the party defeats Donald Trump, “the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.”
Sanders made his endorsement of Biden in a remarkable event that was live-streamed from their respective homes in Burlington, Vt., and Wilmington, Del., amid the coronavirus outbreak that has dislocated daily life and brought the country to a standstill.
“Not in a million years would we have believed that we would be talking to each other in our respective homes, that we could not do rallies, that we could not, you know, get out of the house,” Sanders said. “We are in a terrible moment, an unprecedented moment, and I know we share the understanding that we’ve got to go forward right now and out of this in an unprecedented way to address the terrible pain that so many of our fellow Americans are feeling. And so today I am asking all Americans — I am asking every Democrat, I am asking every independent, and I’m asking a lot of Republicans — to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe, and I’m just speaking for myself now, is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.”
The moderate Biden and progressive Sanders said they agreed to form six “policy working groups” to merge their platforms. The Vermont independent senator had been pushing for the former vice president to adopt some of his popular policies, including Medicare for All.
“It’s no great secret, Joe, that you and I have our differences, and we’re not going to paper them over — that’s real,” Sanders said. “But I hope that these task forces will come together, utilizing the best minds and people in your campaign and in my campaign to work out real solutions to these very, very important problems.”
As viewers watched the two rivals beside one another on a split screen, Biden spoke of their long friendship and thanked Sanders for his support.
“Your endorsement means a great deal. It means a great deal to me. I think people are going to be surprised that we are apart on some issues but we’re awfully close on a whole bunch of others,” Biden said, adding, “If I am the nominee, which it looks like you’ve just made me, I’m going to need you. Not just to win the campaign, but to govern.”
The two men spent the bulk of their broadcast on topics on which they largely agreed, including the need to relieve student debt and expand access to higher education, climate change and criminal justice reform.
With help from Sanders, Biden said, he hoped his administration would “go down as one of the most progressive since Roosevelt.”
In 2016, when Sanders lost his bid for the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, he waited until shortly before the party’s convention to formally endorse her. This year, even as Biden was cruising to victory, the coronavirus outbreak brought the primary to an anticlimactic end, and Monday’s live stream gave it a fittingly unfamiliar finale.
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