Eh, I had a libertarian stint in my past. I hate the villany of changing your opinions. "Flip flopping" is one of the biggest failures you can supposedly have as a modern politician (or even person). We should praise people when they change thier views, not condemn them for it.
At minimum, he must be better than Collins. That's the alternative. Even if he doesn't actually believe this stuff, it's still a significant improvement.
I do think he believes it though. I think he has a bad past, and that lead him down some dark roads. However, I think this has taught him some lessons that he's learned from. He sees how shitty he was in the past and has improved. I hope this is true for everyone. If you still hold the same beliefs you did in the past, you're a failure of a human. If you don't see how stupid and ignorant the younger you was, you aren't living a life worth living.