He’d been doing and saying unhinged shit before that, but he was one of the few people to correctly call Trump’s win waaaaaay in advance, which he took to be evidence of his genius insight instead of just a lucky call. It got him a lot of attention, though, and he’s continued to ramp up the unhinged shit from there. He’s the “Trump is a master persuader who is so charismatic it is basically magic” guy.