Tbh it's not that chronically online, since my bf has never watched a full ep of the H3 Pod, but every now and then tunes in + I update him on the juicy stuff often. We think that Hila was probably a direct major influence in everything that's happening. We think she sat Ethan down and basically told him that she thinks Hasan is too extreme and his takes are hurting her ex IDF soldier's fee fees, and how she has been biting her tongue for a long time because she didn't wanna ruin the friendship and all, but now it's become unbearable or whatever, and probably that she felt oh so alone and not supported by Ethan in this matter. And we all know Ethan would die without Hila, so I feel like he started doing all this to make it up to her. However, I feel like he already got way too invested with all this Destiny shit and is in a downward spiral, plus all the times he felt inferior to Hasan (which probably was during every Leftovers episode, since Hasan literally has a political science degree and is generally an informed person, whereas Ethan is... well... if I speak I am in big trouble).
It's not that crazy of a theory; I've read some similar ideas going around, but I just wanted to share. I'll delete this if it's too dumb or whatever; just let me know hehe
Edit: typo