Yeah, but that'd be because he's naively following someone else's cause. Upon closer examination of G1 Tailgate's TFU profile (bearing in mind that Marvel writers also wrote the G1 tech spec bios), it describes Tailgate as basically being a deluded nutter with delusions of grandeur.
There are many other IDW Transformers whose personas differ from their original selves, such as:
* Cyclonus - tech specs/TFU describes him as being devoid of compassion or personality and lives for nothing else than conquest. This is clearly not the case with IDW Cyclonus who has loads of personality, is capable of love and isn't into conquest or needless conflict (he sees himself as a patriot). Although he does share a similar sense of having a warrior's code that we saw in G1 cartoon Cyclonus.
* Mesothulas - while his Tarantulas person was similar to that of BW Tarantulas, his origins and original persona as Mesothulas was quite different. IDW Tarantulas is also more of a tortured soul because of what he felt he was forced to do by the Autobots and what he thought had happened to Ostaros. BW Tarantulas was just downright malicious.
...anyway, my point is that IDW have demonstrated that they are willing to exercise their creative liberty to significantly alter the personalities of established characters. So if they needed a certain type of character there's no reason why they couldn't pluck an existing toy character and modify the persona to suit their needs. Or pick one that doesn't have an existing bio and do likewise. Time Warrior's an open slate, just sayin'.