I’m still reading tea leaves of course, but while he may well have been completely right about literally everything, I sense that what changed was his tolerance for BS, combined how much the administration valued him.
Regardless, it’s still an absolute shame. Of course the personal tragedy for his family, and then professionally, either this poor guy was railroaded and mistreated, or else he missed a chance for a productive final act in his career.
My buddy did twenty years in the Navy. One of his early postings was in San Diego, and he would complain about having to be officer of the deck (or similar… I forget the exact term) over the weekend and constantly having to go retrieve hungover E2 and E3 sailors from the Tijuana jail.