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 expect. >> reporter: nrl 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 his actual threat to american democracy. what biden sees out there is that 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 is a shared history too. both men have working class roots and both wanted to be president. ♪ and when vice president biden decided not to run in 2016 as the party establishment lined up behind hillary clinton, he reached out to sanders for a private chat or two, a courtesy sanders has not forgotten.