Bernie Sanders Didn't Need To Tweet The Debate

The first debate saw not just two presidential candidates hashing out the issues, but arguably three if you count Bernie Sanders' live tweets of the event. He spent the evening of the first debate teasing the event, explaining why the whole process is important (complete with pictures of him in front of the TV watching CNN), and then he went on to make the case for Hillary Clinton from home. It's fair to say he still prefers Clinton to Donald Trump, but if you're curious about what Bernie Sanders' response to the second presidential debate is, you probably already know. But, he didn't let us in on his thoughts in real time on Sunday, like he had on Sept. 26.

Sanders remains hard at work for the Clinton campaign, but his Twitter was silent about the debate. His last two posts were retweets on Saturday, and before that, he posted a photo from out on the campaign trail. The Wall Street Journal reported that he was in four states over the past week trying to reach millennials who were once feeling the Bern but who haven't jumped on the Clinton train with the same enthusiasm. In those appearances he reminded voters, "This campaign is not a personality contest," and pushed for them to look at what the candidates stand for.

For a while, it appeared what the candidates stand for would not be the focus of Sunday's debate. Trump started the evening off by holding an impromptu news conference with women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault or harassment — all of which Bill Clinton has denied in the past — and in doing so changed the mood and tone of the pre-debate coverage, as well as the beginning of the debate itself. Unlike in the first debate, Clinton and Trump did not even shake hands at the start.

Even though Sanders has not shared his own two cents, that didn't stop Trump from mentioning the senator. In a series of follow-ups to a question about Trump's lewd comments about women in which he bragged about committing sexual assault, Trump brought up Sanders and the Democratic primary:

The Bernie Sanders race, where you won, but not fair and square, in my opinion. All you have to do is take a look at Wikileaks and see what they say about Sanders and see what Wasserman-Schultz had in mind. Never had a chance. I was so surprised to see him sign on with the devil ...

And that wasn't it. He also quoted Sanders claiming that, "Bernie Sanders said Hillary Clinton has very bad judgment." Sanders several times during the primary questioned Clinton's judgment. But he has been more than clear now that the race is down to Clinton and Trump, he's with her. Just listen to what he said Saturday about Trump in Philadelphia: "I think you’ve got a person who grew up very very wealthy who thinks that he is entitled to do anything that he wants."

He may not be live tweeting the debate, but you can guess what he's thinking.