When Kamala Harris swore in Bernie Sanders in the Senate on Friday, her chat with the independent senator caught the attention of social media. “Stand here. Although it is not your nature to stand where you are told to stand, try it,” Kamala Harris said before taking the oath of office. And then the two politicians shook hands and greeted each other.
As vice president, it was Kamala Harris’ duty to swear in new senators when the 119th Congress convened on Friday. It was anticipated that the swearing-in event would have made for some awkward moments, as the election was acrimonious and Republican leaders even mispronounced Kamaal Harris’ name during the campaign.
But on the Senate floor it was business as usual, with Kamala Harris returning to work after a long hiatus following the crushing election defeat. He was in a good mood, smilingly interacting with the senators. However, while administering the Pledge of Allegiance, he made a mistake and omitted the “flag,” prompting widespread criticism on social media. Republican supporters asked him how he could not remember the Pledge of Allegiance that was read every day at school.
Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, endorsed Kamala Harris during the campaign and gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention. “We need an economy that works for all of us, not just the greed of the billionaire class. My fellow Americans, while 60 percent of our people live paycheck to paycheck, the top 1 percent have never had it so good. These oligarchs tell us that we should not tax the rich; we should not assume price speculation; we should not expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision services; and we should not increase social security benefits for struggling seniors,” he said.
After Kamala Harris’ defeat, Sanders harshly criticized the Democratic Party for its disastrous campaign. The independent, who is part of the Democrats, said that “it should not be a big surprise that a Democratic Party that has abandoned the working class finds that the working class has abandoned them.”
“First it was the white working class, and now it is also the Latino and black workers,” Sanders continued in his statement. “While Democratic leadership defends the established order, the American people are angry and want change. And they are right.”
