Has Bernie Sanders finally given up? It appears that might be the case, as he announced on C-SPAN this week that “it doesn’t appear that [he’s] going to be the nominee.”

After admitting that he probably won’t be the nominee, Sanders mentions that his campaign’s goal is still to push a progressive platform. He notes that he isn’t giving up on transforming the Democratic party just yet.

On top of the C-SPAN bomb drop, Bernie also announced on MSNBC that, come November, he will be voting for Clinton.

JUST IN: @BernieSanders says “yes,” he will vote for @HillaryClinton in November https://t.co/6FT0ZLi0JG

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 24, 2016

Although Sanders seems to be giving a lot of hints at the fact that he won’t be president, he has yet to drop out of the race. With a Sanders win essentially mathematically impossible–barring any election fraud accusations–it’s hard to say why he hasn’t pulled the plug yet. Perhaps staying in the race is the best way to push Clinton’s agenda further left. Perhaps he enjoys the political limelight. Perhaps he’s saddened by the fact that ending the campaign will be the end of his last legitimate chance at becoming the leader of the free world. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Sanders is prepared to step back any day now and put his weight behind Clinton.

Of course, there are still die-hard Berniebros holding out hope that Sanders will win the nomination–swearing they won’t vote for “$hillary” under any circumstances. In fact, there are many conspiracies on exactly how Sanders will become our country’s leader. According to some YouTube commenters, Sanders will storm into the lead after Clinton is indicted by the DOJ.

Bernie Sanders can’t say it yet publicly, but he’s waiting as many of us are for the FBI to recommend criminal indictments against Hillary Clinton and then for DOJ head Loretta Lynch to indict her. Then the super-delegates will wisely defect from Hillary over to Bernie when they vote at the convention in Philadelphia next month.

According to other commenters, Sanders actually has the votes to win but election fraud is making it look like Clinton is in the lead.

There is a lawsuit going on to set the record straight. BERNIE THEY SAY YOU WON. These are the same guys who made sure the record was straight so that Obama rightfully won in 2008 and 2012. Don’t lose hope because we haven’t!!!!!! #BernieorBust!! And if they don’t get the lawsuit together before the general election, then I will be voting for Ms. Jill Stein. #ThankYouBernie

Best of all, some commenters just think Sanders has something up his sleeve. They claim that he winks in the C-SPAN video right before he says that it doesn’t appear he will be the nominee. What could this wink mean? Some are taking the wink as a sign of his resilience, claiming it means he isn’t giving up quite yet.

Whatever the results of this election are, it’s pretty clear President Bernie Sanders is almost certainly not one of the possible outcomes. It’s nice to know that, after months of what has been a pretty one-sided Democratic race, Sanders has finally come to terms with his campaign’s inevitable end. Plus, with what was essentially an endorsement of Clinton this week, the Democratic party may actually have a shot at keeping the White House this fall, which could mean another four years of progressive policies, even if the country doesn’t quite seem to be #feelingthebern.

Alexandra Simone

Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

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