Only days after leaving the race to become the Democratic nominee, Bernie Sanders made headlines by endorsing competitor Joe Biden for President of the United States.
Bernie's endorsement was a huge win for Biden, who's hoping to unite the moderate and left wings of the party for a win in November. However, after such a contentious primary process, there were some Bernie supporters online who said they'd rather sit the election out than vote for Joe Biden.
Senator Sanders had harsh words for those folks.
On Twitter, some of his former supporters, and even his former press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, tweeted that they were #SorryBernie, but they were not going to be voting for Joe Biden, preferring instead to sit the election out or vote third party.
The Senator would shortly thereafter distance himself from Gray, saying she is "not on the payroll."
Sanders offered the leadership he's known for, asking The Associated Press:
"Do we be as active as we can in electing Joe Biden and doing everything we can to move Joe and his campaign in a more progressive direction? Or do we choose to sit it out and allow the most dangerous President in modern American history get reelected?"
Bernie went on to address these supporters of his more directly, saying:
"I believe that it's irresponsible for anybody to say, 'Well, I disagree with Joe Biden ― I disagree with Joe Biden! ― and therefore I'm not going to get involved.'"
Now that Bernie has exited the race, he's made it clear that their goal should be to pull Biden to the left while, ultimately, supporting him for President regardless.
Biden and Bernie have already been in the process of creating joint task forces to address "key issues like the economy, criminal justice, climate change, immigration and education."
Biden has also begun adopting student debt forgiveness programs and bankruptcy programs proposed by Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren, respectively.
In regards to the upcoming election, Bernie also said:
"I will do everything I can to help elect Joe. We had a contentious campaign. We disagree on issues. But my job now is to not only rally my supporters, but to do everything I can to bring the party together to see that [Trump] is not elected President."
If you were planning on supporting Bernie Sanders in November 2020, Bernie is making it crystal clear what he wants you to do now that his own candidacy is no longer an option: vote for Joe Biden!
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