On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democrat Party presidential nomination. On Wednesday, he said goodbye to the party, saying he will return to being an independent. He said, “I was elected as an independent; I’ll stay two years more as an independent.” While this news may come as a surprise to some, it really shouldn’t. Sanders, a self-described socialist, won his senate seat running as an independent. When he entered the race for the Democrat nomination, he was clearly on the far left of the party — and he drove it even further left.

It was surprising for many of the establishment Democrats how well Sanders did in the primary, as the DNC emails show that Hillary was their choice from the beginning. But Sanders leaving the Democrats, which may appear as a quiet protest to his supporters, is actually a strategic move for the party. Hillary Clinton will have to moderate for the general election, as evidenced by her choice of Tim Kaine as a running mate. Freed from the hard-left tilt she took when campaigning against Sanders, she will now be steering to the middle as she seeks to paint herself as the centrist candidate. Fake right, govern left.