Elise Amendola/AP

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A day after the four-year anniversary of Marco Rubio’s decapitation at the hands of Chris Christie, the Democrats have shown that they are not afraid to hug it out. The stakes are high for a few candidates on the debate stage. Elizabeth Warren needs to take out Bernie Sanders. Joe Biden needs to take out Pete Buttigieg. Amy Klobuchar needs to take out Biden and Buttigieg. Tom Steyer needs to take out everybody.

But after a few early digs, the Democratic candidates are upholding their reputation for bringing tote bags to a knife fight.

The debate opened with Bernie Sanders declaring unity.

At the end of the day…everybody up here is united,” said Sanders. “No matter who wins this damn thing, we’re all going to stand together to defeat Donald Trump.”

Amy Klobuchar kept the love going, saying, “I like Bernie just fine,” before listing bills they had successfully worked on together in the Senate.

But the highlight so far was definitely the Biden-Bernie hug that happened about 45 minutes in. 

Biden Bernie hugging gif

It should be noted, this wasn’t the first Biden-Bernie hug to happen on a debate stage this cycle. They also embraced onstage in October in Ohio.

Biden, Bernie hug in October 2019
John Minchillo/AP

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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