He's a Republican because he fell for the Reagan bling, he's said multiple times he got in it for him. I think he never really understood what that actually meant, and he did side with leftist ideas more often than against, and he did do a bunch of things that are more leftist than he understands, but he still had some pretty entrenched ideas of what a Republican is that he never managed to question despite having reality shoved in his face, so he's still a Republican by religion and lack of reckoning of what that really does.