Like it or not, Hillary Clinton is hurtling towards the Democratic nomination. Clinton needs 2,383 delegates in order to secure the nomination and at the time of writing, she has 1,930. With that in mind, it’s difficult to see how she won’t cross the line very soon.

With the inevitable soon to be confirmed, Hillary Clinton needs to begin focussing her time and money on the Republicans if she wants to continue her success into the general election and keep the Democrats in the White House. However, there’s one key problem, and that’s Bernie Sanders. To his credit, Sanders is still clinging onto his race for the nomination, and that’s quite rightly so, considering his voice still represents many in the Democratic party. However, for as long as Bernie Sanders remains in the race, Hillary Clinton is focusing her efforts on the revolutionary senator and not on preparing to take down her Republican opponent.

If Bernie Sanders really cares about the Democrats winning this election, no matter how much he might despise Hillary Clinton, he’d drop out of the race now.

Hillary Clinton is Incredibly Close to Winning the Democratic Nomination [Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

However, the big question is, will Sanders drop out of the race or will he cling on to the bitter end? You’d imagine that the picture is pretty clear cut for Bernie Sanders — if he can’t win the nomination himself, he’d support whoever the Democratic nominee is, as surely he’d rather see a Democrat in the White House over a Republican any day? Although, it’s not that simple. A key problem comes in the fact that Bernie Sanders isn’t a Democrat in the same respect that Clinton is. That’s not a scathing remark, it’s a simple fact. Sanders has seen a successful career as an independent Senator, only joining the Democratic party in a bid to secure their nomination in the presidential race.

As reported by Politifact, Bernie Sanders’ political position was best summed up by Senator Barbara Boxer, who said, “Bernie is a Democrat some days. ” There’s no denying that this is is a man that represents the views of many within the party — he wouldn’t have come this far without it. However, Bernie himself just can’t be considered a Democrat. In fact, according to the Washington Free Beacon, Sanders is still registered as an independent, despite now running as a Democrat.

When Hillary Clinton lost the nomination to Barack Obama in 2008, she fell behind the winning candidate. That’s exactly what you’d expect from a life-long Democrat, a woman who would rather see any Democrat in the White House over a Republican. However, I have a strong feeling that’s a principle Bernie Sanders wouldn’t adhere to. After Sanders inevitably loses the nomination, he’ll return to being an independent senator from Vermont, so what does he have to gain from supporting the Democratic nominee? No matter how long Sanders clings on to his presidential bid, it’ll do very little damage to his own career, but instead stall Hillary Clinton’s progress in gaining the keys to the White House.

Who won the Democratic debate? Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders draw even. https://t.co/n48ZINKUAH pic.twitter.com/Tu7imJOY3B — The New York Times (@nytimes) April 15, 2016

Bernie Sanders has been heavily critical of Clinton throughout the primary campaign, and vice versa. What more would you expect between two candidates fighting for the nomination? However, in the end, candidates always fall behind the nominee and ultimately, their party. However, the Democrats aren’t Bernie Sanders’ party, and with claims that he could run for the presidency as an independent candidate, the more damage he does to Hillary Clinton at this stage, the better it would serve him in the general election.

I have no doubts that Bernie Sanders is an incredibly principled man, and it’s hard to deny that I find myself agreeing with him on many issues, but it’s looking less and less likely that he’s going to win the Democratic nomination. If Sanders truly cared about the Democrats staying in the White House, he’d fall out of the race now and put his full support behind the only candidate that can make it there, Hillary Clinton, no matter what his personal views are. However, Sanders’ reluctance to drop out of the race is unnecessarily straining Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the general election and ultimately shows that Bernie Sanders will never be a true Democrat.

[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]