I don’t like to put speculative ideas out there, so I didn’t mention this previously, but to me, the presidential run (particularly his behavior surrounding it) feels like a twisted Stockholm trip or something. Like he’s playing at being the captor; getting to adopt the role under the guise of being against it. Often one admires the power of one’s nemesis.

The reason why I mention this now is because you said how his response was reminiscent of politicians, and this theory could explain some of the behavior you’ve described.

Maybe he’s gone off the deep end, but if so, I hope it’s a temporary setback. At the very least, he’s put together a large body of work that many have learned from, and he’ll always deserve some measure of praise for that.

The scary part is that if he’s really backsliding, it means he never truly got it in the first place. When you really get it - the way Rose gets it, or Passio gets it - going back is as impossible as believing in Santa again. And if he could be that convincing... God help us... this guy could be the antichrist hahahaha