Watching a Hoax Perpetrated in Real Time

I would have written about this one yesterday, but I was enjoying the experience of getting a colonoscopy. But the story is still timely and, more importantly, a perfect example of how the Democrats and the Pravda Media create a nasty hoax out of an innocent event. 

I am speaking of the Great Handshake Controversy of January 6th. It was, according to the left, a very dark day in American history. Scott Jennings snarkily called it the High Holy Day of January 6th.

This time the horror that must be expressed was not the storming of the Capitol building but rather the failure of Nebraska Senator Bruce Fischer’s husband, Bruce, to shake Kamala Harris’ hand during her swearing-in. 

Don Lemon spews profanities at a senator’s husband, calling him “racist,” for not shaking Kamala Harris’s hand.

The man was holding a cane in the hand Harris attempted to shake.

Do people still fall for this race-baiting nonsense? pic.twitter.com/Z1u3baop4P

— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) January 7, 2025

The left and the media exploded in rage at this racist and sexist insult. Fischer had shaken hands with Joe Biden and Mike Pence, and even joked around with them. With Harris, though, he was stonefaced and didn’t accept her gracious offer of a handshake. Harris was visibly taken aback at his snub. 

The husband of a Republican senator just refused to shake hands or make eye contact with Vice President Harris.

The level of class you can expect from MAGA. pic.twitter.com/hTarflIqlw

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) January 6, 2025

The left EXPLODED with rage. NeverTrumpers were particularly nasty, implying all sorts of dark motives, racism being among the most obvious. MAGA folks are racist as hell, you know. Totally classless. 

.@SenatorFischer, why did your husband refuse to look at Vice President Harris when you were sworn in? Why did he refuse to shake the Vice President’s hand? Do you approve of his behavior? Isn’t decency important? Especially with those we disagree with politically? Please say so. https://t.co/4pZpq3RI62

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 7, 2025

The outrage spread across X, and it was even written about in the Pravda Media, including the Old Grey Lady herself, in The New York Times. Here’s how they described the horrific event:

…the reactions underscored anew how even the most basic interpersonal interactions in Washington these days are scrutinized for signs of the passions and hostilities between members of opposing parties that lie barely beneath the surface. The awkward exchange between Ms. Harris and Mr. Fischer came on a day that was, in its own way, trying for the vice president, who was carrying out her duties after losing the presidency and getting ready to leave office altogether, her own future unclear.

The whole thing was captured by C-SPAN cameras in the Old Senate Chamber.

After administering the oath to Ms. Fischer and shaking her hand, Ms. Harris turned to Mr. Fischer and said, “Congratulations to you,” holding out a hand.

“Thank you,” he said, gazing down without looking her in the eye as she stood with her arm outstretched. She then pulled back, raised her eyebrows and cringed slightly before turning and plastering on a rictus smile for the photo.

The frostiness began before the vice president read the oath, when Ms. Fischer introduced her husband and positioned him next to Ms. Harris to hold the Bible for her. He appeared so reluctant to stand close to the vice president that she commented.

“It’s OK, I won’t bite. I’m not going to bite, don’t worry,” Ms. Harris said.

Brian Tyler Cohen, a political commentator, posted a video of the interaction online and said it demonstrated “the level of class you can expect from MAGA.”

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. pic.twitter.com/R5FcpEkIt3

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 6, 2025

There is one big problem with the entire narrative, and it is that the entire affair is based on a hoax, just as happened with the “fine people” hoax which still rolls around the Internet and formed the very foundation of Joe Biden’s campaign for president and his critique of Trump for years: by stripping the context–in Trump’s case the specific denunciation of White Supremacists, and in this case the physical infirmity of Bruce Fischer, who was holding both a cane and a Bible–an impression completely divorced from reality was created and to this day being maintained. 

John Harwood attacks disabled man for using a cane. Doesn’t get much lower for the broken brained mob today. https://t.co/CveyMdn48g

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) January 6, 2025

It’s not even ambiguous. While the left took video clips that obscured the cane, there are plenty of photographs and even some video clips in which the cane is very clearly visible. 

The latest media outrage is that a white man didn’t throw away his cane & bible to shake Kamala’s hand pic.twitter.com/lP3AzZDzWf

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 7, 2025

At the time Harris extended her hand Fischer was holding a Bible in one hand and was propping himself up with a cane on the other. By the time his LEFT hand was free, not his right, the handshake incident was over. Was he supposed to interrupt the swearing-in to shake Kamala’s hand as she read the Oath of Office?

Senator Fischer is not known as a rabble rouser–Nebraskans rarely are–and it seems much more likely that a geriatric old man with balance difficulties couldn’t manage to juggle a cane and a Bible and simultaneously shake hands. 

This is a Democrat House member smearing an old man for not shaking Kamala Harris’ hand *because he was holding a cane*…suggesting that he wants a return to slavery.

There is no bottom for these people. pic.twitter.com/Fubg0c0JCg

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) January 6, 2025

I do not blame Harris for being surprised at the moment–she was swearing in one Senator after another, and hasn’t addressed the issue herself. I doubt she was intentionally creating a firestorm. 

But I have no doubt that that this affair has been entirely intentional by the Pravda Media and the left’s influencers. All these accusations are still out there on X–none deleted nor corrected, despite all the facts being out there. Just like the “fine people” hoax, they KNOW they are lying. It is all in the service of smearing conservatives as racistsexisthomophobes. 

These are no mistakes, misinterpretations, or innocent at all. It is coordinated, self-conscious, and lying propaganda with a purpose. 

This is how the left works, all day every day.