Outrage Ensued After GOP Senator’s Husband Didn’t Shake Kamala’s Hand
Yes, it was an incredibly awkward social interaction, but those interpreting it as an act of racism or hatred are reading far too much into a split-second in time.
An awkward exchange between Vice President Kamala Harris and the husband of Sen. Debra Fischer during her Senate swearing-in ceremony sparked a firestorm. But the incident may have been more nuanced than it first appeared.
After Harris delivered the oath of office to Sen. Fischer, the two women shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. The Vice President then extended her hand to Bruce Fischer, standing next to his wife, holding a Bible in his left hand and a cane in his right. He nodded tersely to Harris and offered a perfunctory thank you but declined to shake her hand.
Unsurprisingly, everyone who witnessed the brief, unusual interaction between Fischer and Harris—whether in person or through the video that went viral—quickly formed their own opinions and took to social media to share them.
Many on the left were quick to label Fischer as racist. Responding to a post on X, Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost wrote, “I bet he misses the ‘good ole days.'”
I bet he misses the “good ole days” https://t.co/xA8T1rTUWl
— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@MaxwellFrostFL) January 6, 2025
Another wrote: “@SenatorFischer’s husband, Bruce, today refused to make eye contact with, or shake the hand of the Vice President of the United States. Regardless of her @VP title, this display is racist, misogynistic, and anti-Black. …”
@SenatorFischer’s husband, Bruce, today refused to make eye contact with, or shake the hand of the Vice President of the United States. Regardless of her @VP title, this display is racist, misogynistic, and anti-Black. It just is. Stop this foolishness. She deserves our respect. pic.twitter.com/8kLGfOCsuf
— Nick E. Smith (@NickESmithNYC) January 6, 2025
In the X post below, one man describes the moment as evidence of MAGA supporters’ “anger, resentment, and bitterness.”
The correct term for this is “trash.”
That is the essence of MAGA. Anger, resentment, bitterness. Graciousness and civility is a foreign land never visited. https://t.co/rbRapy0lW3
— Stuart Stevens (@stuartpstevens) January 6, 2025
Another wrote: “What an absolutely pathetic display of fragility and hate. The bare minimum—shaking someone’s hand—is apparently too much for these people. This is cave-dweller behavior, plain and simple. No class, no decency, just pure spite.”
Journalist John Harwood responded to this post, calling Fischer “a small weak man of low character.”
a small weak man of low character https://t.co/XMnOPLpIQA
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 6, 2025
In the following post, best-selling author Don Winslow takes aim at Sen. Fischer for allowing “another woman to be disrespected like that in front of their son?” (Their son, by the way, is a middle-aged man who is greying at the temples.)
Dear @SenatorFischer
What kind of a woman and mother are you?
What kind of a woman allows another woman to be disrespected like that in front of their son?
You just stood there, with no class.
Does your husband sleep in the barn with the other pigs?pic.twitter.com/RuxXWNS3mr
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) January 6, 2025
And on it went.
Others, primarily conservatives, defended Fischer, noting that he simply didn’t have a free hand to return Harris’s handshake. Was he expected to let his cane drop to the floor? Should he have kept the Vice President waiting while he passed the Bible to his wife and shifted the cane from his right hand to his left?
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway weighed in.
Lots of folks commenting (positively or negatively) on Sen. Deb Fischer's husband not shaking Kamala's hand. The clipped video does not show that the hand the VP tried to shake was holding on to a cane. https://t.co/blA1RIVsmI pic.twitter.com/gYBT3FWdYC
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) January 6, 2025
Hemingway added, “Also, if I may, sometimes days like this are a bit tiring and burdensome for all involved. If someone swearing in 100 people and greeting their families didn’t notice the cane, maybe cut them some slack. And if the husband seemed gruff, likewise, maybe cut him some slack.”
And a woman replied, “Watching the video I’m reminded of an elderly family member with balance and visual problems, looking down at the floor, hanging on to a cane and trying not to fall.”
Not weighing in on Bruce Fischer's intent here, but what this video with 1.4 million views does not show is that he's holding a cane with the hand the Vice President tried to shake. https://t.co/50yUUgxRwt pic.twitter.com/XYf4uTzwht
— Andrew Wegley (@andrewwegley) January 6, 2025
Our own Mary Chastain smacked down journalist Roland Martin who called Fischer an a**hole. He deserved it.
This guy is a dickwad, berating a woman whose husband had a cane in one hand & a Bible in the other. Get a mirror and say ASSHOLE real loud. https://t.co/61yryic122
— Mary ❄️ Freezing Ginger ☃️ (@mchastain81) January 6, 2025
While it’s impossible to know what was going through Fischer’s mind at that particular moment, I see an elderly man who appears painfully shy—and yes, elderly people can absolutely be painfully shy. In the video, he appears to be extremely ill at ease. He is likely unaccustomed to being the focus of media attention and wishes he were anywhere else that day.
Additionally, people use canes for stability; he wouldn’t rely on one if he didn’t need it. With both hands occupied, he offered Harris a polite nod and a thank you.
Yes, it was an incredibly awkward social interaction, but those interpreting it as an act of racism or hatred are reading far too much into a split-second in time.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Since Harris isn’t black, how can it be racism? Inquiring minds and all that…
On the Left, “race” is a concept that exists in quantum superposition — whatever is required in the moment for their political advantage.
Speaking of which, our Florida branch office is hiring white Hispanic security guards. Apply today, dudes y amigos!
Oh yes — they won’t be shy about determining your “immutable” characteristics to suit their needs, either. They are the authors of reality itself.
Because – for convenience – she identifies as
coloured“of color”.I had someone not shake my hand recently. I of course instantly thought of him as qan anti-Semitic homophobe despite his explanation that he was ill and didn’t want to risk passing his germs to me via that handshake.
2020 – Shaking hands with a politician is a sign of racism and bigotry, trying to spread Covid to them.
2024 – Shaking hands with a politician is a critical element of meeting them, or you’re a racist and bigot, even if you are carrying something in each hand.
I guess the Woke rules change over time.
1. Dems never said she wasn’t black. She’s black and Indian. Most people are more than one thing.
2. In any case, racism is not just about blacks. Her mother wasn’t white either.
But of course this has nothing whatsoever to do with race. Dems insist on dragging race into everything. Sometimes something really is about race, but the vast majority of the time it isn’t.
(Some Jews are the same, seeing antisemitism every time someone says or does something to them. Sometimes they’re right, but more often it has nothing to do with that.)
Negro action tells me they are the racists.
It goes both ways.
Even if it was intended as a snub (I have no idea what’s in his mind), jumping to the conclusion that it was a result of racism or sexism rather than just strong dislike or political disagreement says way more about those jumping to conclusions than it does about the person issuing the snub.
“jumping to the conclusion that it was a result of racism or sexism rather than just strong dislike or political disagreement”
Remember the “deepfake” Kamala campaign ad?
“”I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire. I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say, you’re both sexist and racist.”
Which is it, Democrats — a slanderous lie, or your trust old hammer against the right? Because you cannot have it both ways.
Unsurprising. Liberals hear “dog whistles,” unspoken comments meant to be audible to racists. So who are the racists?
If he’s having balance problems or is a Parkinsons sufferer, I can relate. For me, natural aging has resulted in slowly developing balance problems. I often walk down a corridor with my fingetips brushing the wall to provide a location reference. If I don’t, I tend to stagger. And I recently went through three months of balance therapy, which helps, especially since the therapist taught me exercises to stretch and strengthen major muscle groups. Nevertheless, I, too, can see using a cane in my future.
These people are all to young to understand but you know they don’t care.
.
I often carry a cane on bad days. Due to a neuropathic issue that causes me BAD pain and other issues, I am bung-full of Lyrica and nortriptyline to help me lead as normal a life as a broken-down 75 year old can lead.
A lame duck functionary and a private citizen didn’t shake hands.
He could have slapped her across the face with that bible and I still wouldn’t care.
He’s a relative of a politician who didn’t shake hands.
I can think of another relative of a politician who’s involved in drug use, a paternity suit, tax code violations, an illegal gun purchase and possible federal charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for allegedly working on behalf of China and Ukraine. He needed a pardon to keep him out of prison.
But oh my, not shaking hands is what’s in the news.
The same people criticizing this lapse of decorum are likely among those who praised Nancy Pelosi for tearing up her copy of the SOTU, a flagrant and deliberately uncivil and hostile act.
“He could have slapped her across the face with that bible and I still wouldn’t care.”
I’d play it over and over. You don’t see spontaneous combustion every day.
The accusation is tantamount to elder abuse. Often handicapped people in this position cross their left arm across their bodies in a deliberate fashion and shake with their left hand. It was the part of wisdom not to do this as it would have led to accusations of sinister and demeaning treatment.
As a former fencer, I’m used to left-handed shakes, but it’s surprising and potentially disturbing to normies. I wouldn’t even risk it in that setting. I agree that he probably just wanted to get out of there.
” … this display is racist, misogynistic, and anti-Black. …”
So, it’s racist twice??
In negro-speak “If he use da cane yo can’t complain.”
As the late great Norm Macdonald one said, “both?”
Two negatives make a positive, so, either they are positively not racist, or positively racist, dependent on one’s view.
Hedley Lamarr: “You said racism twice”
Nick E. Smith: “I like racism”
Is that all ya got? The best you can do to get the mob agitated?
Wow. You Dems are in real trouble.
Alternately, if THIS sets you off, I recommend you consult your physician to see if your heart is going to survive 21 January 2025.
It’s like being forced to watch The View, despite conscientiously avoiding ever doing that.
Another utterly idiotic, vindictive and dishonest accusation of alleged “racism,” from the perennially infantile, vile, evil, despicable and perennially aggrieved Dhimmi-crats.
Does anyone remember, “Stand up Chuck”? Biden yelled that out to a man in a wheelchair and the MSM didn’t care.
Bruce Fischer was simply doing his part to balance the universe of the surplus of hands that Brandon shook that weren’t actually there.
I saw him offering a handshake to… (Harvey the rabbit?) in a video clip. It was so sad and pathetic.
What’s that, Harvey? You resent Grizz’s implication that you’re imaginary?
I’ll see to it he’s appropriately disabused of the thought.
That’s almost as bad as tearing up the president’s State of the Union speech!
Or forcing grieving military families to wait for two hours while you take a nap.
“tearing up the president’s State of the Union speech”
Amen.
“Respect the office” my shiny metal ass.
Respect is not only earned, it also can get squandered.
Not it is not. Those things are awful and true disrespect. Nothing happened here.
Democrats are being ableist…their words, not mine.
I ran across that word a few months ago. I’d never heard it before. The have a label for everything, don’t they?
Wait until you learn about “neurodiversity.”
It translates to “celebrating the delusional.”
Or maybe we should stop pretending? If the woke d/prog feigning outrage here over a ‘snub’ didn’t also condemn just as immediately, publicly and loudly the past quarter century of ‘hate the opposition, pink pussy hats, get in their face tell them they’re not welcome, don’t sit down to Thanksgiving meals with your MAGA family members… then eff them.
The wokiesta left chose the Team Blue v Team Red dynamic so even if that what the gentleman was doing here, a consciously intentional snub, and not simply a case of having both hands full they should look inward for any explanation and make a legit effort to fix the members of Team Blue before worrying about Team Red.
It has been reported that Harris’ own father said she was descended from a Jamaican slave owner. Aside from his evident impairment, isn’t that even worse than being a “white supremacist”?
Like most black Americans, she is descended from slaves and from their owners. That’s often how slavery worked.
What the absolute fuckery is this?
This is an UTTER lie created by desperate leftists and shared with glee by their supporters in the media!!
“ But the incident may have been more nuanced than it first appeared.”
There is no MAY here! It was outright fabricated by Democrats because in the wider footage you can see a bible in one hand AND a fucking walking cane in the other hand! So which hand is he supposed to use for a fucking hand shake? His third hand! 🙄
It’s time shit like this is ignored instead of giving it some kind of credence by writing a story about something that MAY have been more nuanced than first thought!
There is no MAY here. There is NO story other than the outright fabrication of something the left created to keep people separated in the us vs them silos created by the left!
“So which hand is he supposed to use for a f*g hand shake? His third hand!”
Especially since Kamala’s not above that.
How is not shaking an Indian’s hand “anti-black”?
Here to explain this to our confused viewers is Ralph Northam, headmaster of Stepin Fetchit School For The Arts.
These people have spent the last decade accusing anyone who doesn’t support their leftist agenda of being ‘racist’ and ‘homophobic’ or ‘white supremacist’.
But they want to whine that he didn’t shake her hand? Frankly, she’s lucky he didn’t punch the lying c*nt in her lying mouth.
It is hypocritical for a Democrat to say that someone lacks graciousness and civility.
I give the guy props.
He ought to post something like
“She is an awful person who has caused great harm to far too many people. I did not shake her hand because I have no respect for her.”
Honestly — Kamala and her supporters really should go right ahead and f##k themselves.
So the libs think we hate them. Ha, not even closes to the truth. I could care less about them. That is not hate, that is “your really not important”. I once learned that when a child is having a tantrum, you just ignore them.
Who cares if he did not shake her hand (for what ever reason).
I wouldn’t have shaken her hand either, and I don’t use a cane. And her race is irrelevant. I would gladly shake Clarence Thomas’s hand, but not hers or Biden’s.
Indeed, it’s likely that all “racist” conservatives hold Justice Thomas in high regard.
This is explained (by the Left) by claiming Thomas is a “race traitor” and an “Uncle Tom.” See, it’s OK for the Left to smear a black man – that’s not racist even when the smear is based entirely on consideration of race. Go figure.
Another aspect of this event is how staged the whole production has to be to get it all done. I would bet the Husband wasn’t told that the VP would try to shake his hand and he wasn’t expecting it.
Also there seems to be an assumption that he could have just done something with the cane. Since we are past the 1950’s canes as fashion isn’t really a thing anymore. Perhaps he has to have the cane to maintain balance?
Has my comment at 1143 been censored? 🙄
Only temporarily, it seems.
I have Parkinson’s. Everything I do seems to be complex and exhausting. What should be easy needs to be planned and scripted, I have no idea what this man’s problem is but I can imagine. Fatigue, balance, slow mental processing, sending out unintended interpersonal messages, awkwardness in unfamiliar situations, etc. We should assume the best on his part and just move on
Leave a Comment