That’s right, man, hold tight to your original hypothesis.
I suppose this is a saving face (so he doesn’t have to go live on a farm as he swore to do if he were wrong.) It’s like, “Yeah, he may not be in love with her now – now he may seem to hate her – but I STILL think it all started with that. So even if it may have shifted, I can still be right.”
There are many politicians like this. Many many. Never acknowledging their mistakes, their wrongs, the change in the landscape.