I think it’s as simple as the fact that he’s old and just doesn’t understand the tech and how it’s mostly smoke and mirrors. He’s probably got malicious people influencing him as well. It’s sad but this why public servants need mandatory retirement before they get to this stage.
He’s not been ‘bought’ or anything unless they’ve convinced him that they’ll transfer his mind into an LLM or something so he’ll live forever.
Seriously though that’s probably going to be a selling point soon. Promising all the sick and dying people of this country a shot immortality (with the power of AI!) in exchange for votes and their life savings. Remember that cryonics scam? Anything to keep the bubble going.