The only reason he feels betrayed is because he’s taken an unpopular political position and has tried to strong-arm the academic class into adopting his position. When that failed, he began lashing out through a smear campaign, which his wife then immediately became a casualty of. She caught a stray because he didn’t want to back down.

This is a retaliatory smear campaign to remove anyone who disagrees with him. He wants to hire/fire people until academic leadership reflects his worldview. Since he can’t invoke the unpopular politics which led him to these actions, he’s made Plagiarism the cover of his McCarthyist campaign to root out opposition to his political agenda.