My apologies, in listing elements with numbers I meant to make them easy to reference, rather than to suggest a temporal ordering of their use. I did write that

My apologies, in listing elements with numbers I meant to make them easy to reference, rather than to suggest a temporal ordering of their use. I did write that (2) has been used alongside (1). And it’s not like the vague character attacks and insinuations (2) have stopped being a device in the story Toner tells. If Toner’s approach has merely been to stay pragmatic about avoiding legal risks, then it’s difficult to say what prompted her recent podcast, which she had no legal duty to produce. For what it’s worth, smearing her professional colleague with the stereotype of a sneaky, untrustworthy gay man really shouldn’t have any place in Toner’s repertoire. Gay men can of course be sneaky and untrustworthy, but if Toner really feels the need to explain her behavior to the public, then Toner could potentially improve her credibility by trying her hardest to give a very clear and detailed picture of what happened and to stop employing vague and non-specific devices, so that the public can consider her claims with lucidity rather than through a fog of insinuation.