Yeah. I'm not sure if it was deliberate. I mean, I suspect it is but in a completely "conveniently unaware" sort of way. I don't know. I've been puzzling for a while now about how someone can flip shit around like that without hesitation but at the same time, try to pass themselves off as uber-sensitive and caring and ethical unless it's deliberate.
Habitually, compulsively, pathologically...
When a person's got no sense of self worth, they rely inordinately on validation from other people. Probably started learning how to get it before they learned how to walk. Never fills the hole though, just digs it deeper. It's not about passing themselves off as sensitive, caring and ethical, it's about feeling sensitive, caring and ethical because someone else sees them that way. Never works. Thus the volatility. If they're not feeling validated, you must not be doing enough validating. Until they've deconstructed that shit, it's just automatic.
Deliberate types--sociopaths--could give a fuck about all that. If they want you to trust them, to rely on them, it's to turn you out, to ride you into the ground, to torture and abuse you. Having control is all that matters. Their brains are on a level that treats people as toys or tools, consciously. Kind of PUA, except waiting 3 days to call isn't going to better the chances of a "Charlie is Jesus" result.
I've known a lot of fucked up dysfunctional manipulative people (myself included). To my knowledge, I've met 4 sociopaths. I stay away from the habitual one's because they can suck me in before I know what happened. I get right up in the face of the deliberate one's and let them know what will happen if they get close to anyone I know...or see...