that stuck with biden, too, so a love story was born. a marriage of queens, the one-time centrist and the long-time progressive. 20 years ago is this the joe biden you would have expected? >> no, i think the biden of today is not what i or others would have expected. >> reporter: until a new reality intruded. >> covid exacerbated all of the existing problems in terms of the struggles of working families. >> reporter: then came january 6th. >> what trump is about is his actual threat to american democracy. what biden sees out there is if we do not move aggressively and make it clear to people that government can work for them then we stand a real chance of losing democracy in this country. >> reporter: there's a shared history, too, both men haver working class roots, and both wanted to be president. and when vice president biden decided not to run in 2016 as