Paul's regeneration happened over a couple of days it was not instantaneous. After the encounter on the road to Damascus, Luke records (Acts 9:17) Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Being filled with the Spirit is part of conversion, so Paul's conversion was not in an instant but over a short period of time. Yet after his conversion there was a period of proof before he was accepted by James and the rest of the Apostles. I hope Donald's conversion is real and lasting, but I also think it necessary and prudent to let time and action not campaigning reveal the fruit of a changed man and new philosophy.
The change happened in an instant.
The anointing would not have been possible if that were not true.
He was so moved by that single experience that his life’s work flipped as a result of it.
It didn’t flip over a matter of minutes, hours, days, months, or years.
As soon as the experience occurred, Saul was a changed man.