I call BS on this. “Amid politics?” Har! He’s been drifting away from relatives his whole miserable life because he sees them all as hindrances to his career, it’s nothing more complicated than that. His relatives were merely the first in a long line of people he’s used to advance himself. When he croaks, he’ll be alone in this world.
Alone, surrounded by a thousand hangers on.
Assuming they are actually his relatives. He might have just co-opted the family name to create his current persona.