There are at least three Malcolms: Malcolm Little, the young man depicted in The Autobiography who overcame poverty and systemic discrimination, Malcolm X, the prominent Black separatist and member of the Nation of Islam, and el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, the figure of conciliation and unity. It's not that these are different personalities--throughout his life, he was an outspoken defender of truth and justice, and a brilliant rhetorical speaker (even more powerful than Martin Luther King, Jr. in my opinion). Clarence Thomas was clearly influenced by the first two Malcolms, and seems to have ignored the final one. But Thomas was never truly a defender of truth and justice, and he certainly isn't now.

Thomas does share with Malcolm Little a background of overcoming poverty and discrimination as a young person, and he claims to promote the philosophy of Black self-determination that characterizes Malcolm X, whose view of white liberals isn't too far from Thomas's (in a limited way): https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/11115124-the-white-liberal-is-the-worst-enemy-to-america-and

Malcolm X, however, would probably not have approved of Thomas's spouse (even though she certainly isn't a liberal); "When you add milk to coffee, you make it weak" (my paraphrase from memory).

But the recent "contribution" scandals have exposed Clarence Thomas as someone who feels he's entitled to as big a piece of the pie as he can snatch from the table, and anyone else who struggles against poverty and discrimination is on their own. I don't think Clarence Thomas changed in his admiration of Malcolm X; I think he perverted what found attractive and empowering in order to justify his own quest for dominance.