Do you think there's anything in particular that's exonerated him? I havent seen anything
I have a much harder time seeing TUF's activity in the second half of the DP after your post as coming from an informed perspective or subjectively as playing consistently with his scum meta, to the extent I am familiar with it. Maybe you're right, but I think the stronger probability at this point is Ragnar though I am still thinking about this in view of the fact that I now have to entertain the possibility that one of Sui, Oro, or someone else? would be his scum mate. It doesn't negate the theory, but it does mean I have to think more about the situation and potentially reevaluate.
Here's the main thing, though. TUF took the chance on Ragnar and I think TUF's reads on Ragnar, that Ragnar is scum, are right on three levels.
First, relevant to Ragnar: Objectively I think Ragnar is the most likely scum candidate based on his actions in the DP. Subjectively I think Ragnar is playing inconsistently with his town meta.
Second, relevant to TUF: objectively I think TUF's reads on Ragnar are right for the reason I just said. Subjectively I have a very hard time seeing TUF coming from an informed perspective and still willing to commit to VTLing Ragnar given that if he is wrong he knows that you are going to come after him with full force tomorrow, and likely with good reason. When TUF backed off of Ragnar and particularly VTNL'd I was seriously thinking for a minute that I may need to reconsider this, but he quickly corrected the mistake. The fact that TUF made the mistake suggests he isn't being as calculated and methodical as I would expect him to be at this point in the game and especially after an event as significant as a mod kill. Scum TUF isn't posting stream of consciousness thoughts. He's making sure he has a good set of reasons for why he's posting what he's posting because he's got something to hide. Town TUF on the other hand is thinking about how to figure out what the next steps are and he's not worried about looking like scum because he isn't scum. Moreover, as scum I would expect that if TUF was scum he would be hunting for very particular kinds of information DP1, so as to maximize utility of a night kill. Again, the VTNL thing stands out to me as something that is both anti-town and pro-scum, but he corrected that in like less than ten minutes, or maybe somewhere around that. And the fact that he made that unforced error is telling me that he is posting stream of consciousness rather than being super calculating. Again, these are not things I expect scum TUF to do.
Third, relevant to the game in general as between TUF and Ragnar: TUF isn't lurking, posting bullshit or noncommittal reads, evading questions, or suggesting that he should sheep other players while contributing nothing to the game. Ragnar was, is, and continues to do all of those things, which is why I continue to see him as a better lynch candidate even though I do not have a concrete theory on who his scum mate is. I am still working that out. So while I am less confident now in Ragnar than I was pre the mod kill, and while I think Adam's flip doesn't give a whole lot of useful information, I still do not think and am not willing to even pursue a VTL on TUF today. Tomorrow, after results, idk maybe. We will see what happens in the night phase but I think that is premature. That being said, I don't think the case you made against TUF is wrong -- at least it isn't self evidently wrong. There is potentially something there and it's something I will obviously have to consider more once there are results tomorrow, and if the results are what I expect they will be, I think any doubt to that effect will be resolved. TUF is still playing like a townie (and a vanilla one at that) to me, and he is not doing the things Ragnar is so I do not see myself VTLing TUF this DP unless something really significant changes like, idk... a total reversal in what TUF has been doing so far.