This doesn’t surprise me in the least.
The man was a shrewd observer of human nature, he was nobody’s fool, he shot from the hip, and he didn’t do “groupthink.”
All those characteristics plus the fact that he was an incredibly intelligent person all lead toward conservatism.
I have told people for years that I thought if Lennon hadn’t died so early, he would be a conservative.
Interesting. His last album was the only one of his I could stand to listen to, and I/we liked it a lot.