How would you distinguish the article from an honest write up about transistors? That is, you know about his crusade in ML, but if you didn't, how would you decide that this article is written in bad faith or not?

I agree that context matters, and I had the same thought as you. But does that mean that anything he writes on the topic of "who was first" is inherently tainted?

Because I read the article and checked the citations. It's a dead giveaway.