I Can Relate to Tom Steyer Standing Awkwardly Between Sanders and Warren

Been there!

CNN

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

Have you seen this clip? If you’re stuck at an airport, or watching CNN of your own free will at any point in the next 24 hours, you probably will! After a contentious exchange during Tuesday’s presidential debate, Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren appeared to have…some sort of interaction afterward.

What did they say? I don’t know, I’m not a lip-reader or a body-language expert (which is kind of a scam, if we’re being honest). I think the fixation on this moment will end up embarrassing us all. But I can tell you exactly what the third member of this conversation, Tom Steyer, was thinking, because this is how I feel literally every time I am forced to mingle at a social event:

First thought: “Oh, I’ll just try to squeeze in here.”

Second thought: “Hmm, there’s no opening.”

Third thought: “Have I been standing here too long?”

Fourth thought: “Time to pretend to refill my drink!”

Steyer, for his part, says he has no idea what the two senators were talking about. Okay, man.

This is how change happens.

One story at a time.

This investigative reporting takes time too. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices.

We can afford to take our time because we don’t report to oligarchs or corporations. We report to you, and for you.

And the stakes are high. Democracy is on the defense. We’ve been exposing corruption and scandal for five decades, and this is a pivotal moment in our country’s history. Will democracy prevail? We won’t wait for time to tell—independent journalism is essential for democracy, and we’ll keep doing our part to amplify the free press.

So, we’re asking: Will you join the fight? Mother Jones has been here for 50 years, and we need your support to fuel the future of investigative journalism. Mark our 50th anniversary with a gift of any amount.

This is how change happens.

One story at a time.

This investigative reporting takes time too. Months of research. Weeks of writing, editing, and fact checking—and putting together the photography, art, video, and audio that tell the stories in a new way, illuminating new perspectives and voices.

We can afford to take our time because we don’t report to oligarchs or corporations. We report to you, and for you.

And the stakes are high. Democracy is on the defense. We’ve been exposing corruption and scandal for five decades, and this is a pivotal moment in our country’s history. Will democracy prevail? We won’t wait for time to tell—independent journalism is essential for democracy, and we’ll keep doing our part to amplify the free press.

So, we’re asking: Will you join the fight? Mother Jones has been here for 50 years, and we need your support to fuel the future of investigative journalism. Mark our 50th anniversary with a gift of any amount.

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

INDEPENDENT. BECAUSE OF YOU.

Mother Jones has no billionaires calling the shots—just readers like you making fearless reporting possible

Donate