Here’s the deal with Michael Farris.

Dude was (is, technically) a constitutional lawyer, and knew his stuff forward and backward. He’s filed multiple briefs with SCOTUS on various cases, and IIRC he even argued a case or two before them. I followed him on Facebook, where he would post lots of political opinions and news, and elicit conversation from lots of people. I really respected the guy and his knowledge, and most of his opinions, once upon a time.

Sometime in probably 2012 (give or take some years), best guess, he had what he described as an epiphany / religious vision while on the treadmill at the gym. Like God or an angel had given him a clear vision of what he was supposed to be doing, and shortly after, he shifted his focus and efforts.

I can’t find that post now, and I don’t remember at this point what he shifted his focus to, but after that, the tone of his posts changed, and I was suddenly disagreeing with many, many of his newly espoused opinions. After a while of that, he decided to move his public political discourse form his personal account to a page, and I lost track of him after that.

To this day, I’m convinced he had a stroke while at the gym, and it tweaked something in his brain. It was really disappointing to see his sudden shift in position and watch his steady decline afterward.