"For the sake of argument, let's say this is true.
It wouldn't really change anything. The trust in the communication between them would be pretty much eroded to nothing.
At such a point, isn't the relationship effectively over?
Trying to contemplate where any blame lies one way or the other, seems to be a moot point as far as I can tell."
Possibly, it may very well be over, perhaps even well before it ever got started....who really knows? There's not a whole lot of detail to go on. Blame doesn't really benefit anything, it seems, but rather distracts.
I was just rolling with the comment of saying they were maybe just an asshole, and the following one seeming to affirm they were with a thumbs up. I "ass"umed it might be the OP affirming they were indeed an asshole. It gets a bit confusing in the anonymous section with who is saying what. I guess I was trying to offer a different point of view?
Often times it can just as easily go both ways in the perceived asshole arena. It may not change things in that particular relationship, or any others for all we know, but I've learned many times over that recognizing our own stuff/emotions/actions/thoughts/etc. can likely help in our future attempts of communicating/relating/translating perceptions/etc.
It's not contemplating blame in my mind, at all, as much as it's trying to reflect on the overall scene, mostly in hopes of improving future quality control in making such choices.