Yeah, modern Newt is a Bush leaguer. But I think in the 90s Newt was genuinely conservative. Something broke him. Maybe he just wanted to be loved. Maybe it was becoming a professor and having to exist in that particular leftist swamp. Maybe he just wanted to stay relevant and get asked to go on TV so he just turned left. Whatever, I do believe he was genuine back in the day.
Probably the thousands of death threats from the RATs.