In 2000, employees of the NGO where he was running for president were quoted in a New York Times article. One guy talking about arcade junior says, I think he separates himself from good science at times to aggressively pursue an issue and win. And then the other quote is he had a nasty tendency to deride or insult anybody he thought was not on his side. This is also when he starts falling down the conspiracy rabbit hole. Shortly after the 2004 election, he becomes convinced that it was rigged in favor of Bush.