During the last ten or so years it has become a very common practice (well, the practice has existed for as long as humanity, but it has exploded in frequency over the last decade or so), especially by the far left, that if they want to attack and discredit someone for whatever reason (even if that someone is on their side), they will dig up that person's online activity history, trying to find whatever dirt they can find in order to attack him. If they find anything (that they claim to be) objectionable that the person has said online, they will flaunt it around and use as a weapon against that person.
Most crucially, they don't care if the person acknowledges his past mistake, apologizes for it, and reassures that he was wrong back then and that he now knows better and doesn't hold those opinions anymore. To the mob if you have committed a sin in the past, no matter how long ago, you are guilty even today, and there is no redemption. It doesn't matter how long ago it was nor whether you have changed your opinions and regret what you said, you are still guilty.
Sometimes this can be something completely innocuous that the far left blows out of proportions. Other times it can be something genuinely objectionable by any decency standards, even from the perspective of the most moderate centrist. The point is, if it was said a very long time ago, it shouldn't be held against the person if he says that he has learned better, changed his opinions, and regrets having said such a horrible thing.
When people are younger (even well into their 20's), they tend to be inexperienced, hot-headed and do not necessarily understand the long-term consequences of saying something silly or controversial online. Sometimes they might be expressing their honest opinion (at least at the time), sometimes they might just be trolling for the fun of it, but youth and inexperience make people blind to the long-term effects that such behavior can cause, and how it can resurface decades later to haunt them.
Anyway, regardless of whether the objectionable opinions were expressed sincerely or just as a form of trolling, when people mature and grow up they can learn from their mistakes, and change their opinions.
If what they said 20 years ago was genuinely objectionable, but today they regret having said that and are now holding genuinely good opinions, that's something that should be celebrated, not held against them. They should be congratulated for having learned and matured, not shot down because of a mistake they did 20 years ago.
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