Or someone just wants to tell the world he's a fucking slimeball. It doesn't need a larger conspiracy, sometimes just selling a compelling story can be enough.

This is easy to rebut. He is wrong about macroeconomics. But that's because every macroeconomic theory is wrong by design.

It is impossible to come up with a macroeconomic model that perfectly describes reality because economic realities are far too complex to be modelled. That doesn't mean there is zero truth or value to these models, but it means they are certainly wrong, and that is is healthy to approach all macroeconomic analysis with a critical mind.

I tried to understand his money pump model, but could not. On the other hand I can better understand neoclassical macroeconomic models. Maybe Ray's model is going over my head, but at this point I would trust what is taught in the textbooks rather than what Dalio says whenever the two diverge.

Here's a rebuttal of his analysis on China, for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1iv0q_SW3E

There's no need for conspiracy theories when there's a clear and mundane explanation. The PR push for a new book generated a lot of interest which has resulted in a number of articles and conversations. That's it. At some point the cycle will move on and attention on Dalio will settle back near the level it was at a year ago.