Well, this looks like it'll be an interesting thread until it's shut down (cue the popcorn gif). But hey, to give my own 2 cents to the pile, MMM is a strong personality that doled out face punches to clown car mommies burning gas dropping off their kids at school. He thought the drive-though was the MAD of humankind being fulfilled. Maybe I'm paraphrasing, but oftentimes He used hyperbole as fact (biking is safer than driving) so ultimately it is just another version of authority figures playing fast and loose with science and history. Then suddenly his own life can't be glossed over with any amount of concealer - of course the knives come out.
I strongly suspect that Mrs.MM knew she had FI and could not exercise it as she preferred, and that is what many take issue with the blog in the first place. MMM extols a humble, nothing to see here lifestyle yet excites at riding in his friend's self-driving Tesla, zipping along with e-bike assistance (not an expense since it was a blog experiment), going to Canada for summer and putting a roof on his Mom's house, etc. as being a natural part of his frugal, minimalist life.
There is a conundrum here - MMM either prefers his former life had he not started the blog and just retired fully to the simple life he ascribes to, outcome be damned (and in 2007 starting a construction company, he probably would've needed to seek paid employment since the construction company failed). Or he owns the successful independent businessman life that he now has, warts and all.