This is the same type of logic the folks over at my college sports board use to prove that the local paper is against them. It's a stretch based on sinister assumptions there, & it's similar here. There isn't the type of alignment across the spectrum to make that case.
It could be as simple as them agreeing with you that the first headline was ridiculous. It's probably not anything as sinister as them trying to suck up to the Trump, or apologizing for him. If that's the case, they need to can their entire editorial page.
I dunno.
I could see if they just swapped a few words around. But there's an definite change of time between the first and final title