The FTD data suggest they are in fact closing their shorts. There is very little FTD happening in GME's FTD data.
They are able to close thier shorts if infinite liquidity allows them to open two new shorts perpetually. Every time they close, they just open two more. This way they keep getting more money and more time.
50,000 or maybe 100,000 on a bad day. That seems like a lot to a retail investor, but that's nothing when the float is officially 265 million. It's actually very low as a percentage of the float.
For the record - because of infinite liquidity there is actually much more than 265 million shares of GME in circulation. That means this level of FTD is piddly small. Absolutely tiny.
But we know that the short sellers have huge short positions based on the short volume being over 50% every day for years on end.
How can the short volume be so high, and the FTD's be so low, for years? This is possible because they are closing their shrots but they are able to short sell an infinite amount of shares.
Apes have limited buying power. Hege funds have unlimited short selling power.