Ed's an idiot.
He's someone who tries very hard to be composed, to present a certain image. He comes across well. However he now believes this superficial presentation of himself. One aspect of this is that he thinks he's quite clever. The problem is, he's just collected enough to not come across stupid. Which compared to other himbo's makes him seem smart by comparison.
This whole cards up his sleeve, going to play the game, bombshell stuff. Is him trying to use his intelligence, which he thinks he has a lot more of than he does. It's going to fall flat and what'll end up happening is he'll just snap and be an arsehole. We saw that starting to come out towards Tully the other night.
He's very pleased with himself and how he comes across. While he totally believes it, I also think part of him treats others like suckers for buying into it so much. So while he doesn't have much actual respect for others, those that buy into it actually get less from him.
When people don't buy into it, and he already wouldn't have had respect, he goes super negative on them. That's what's going on with Tim. Tim doesn't give a shit about how 'perfect' Ed thinks he is. So that's fueling a lot of Ed's anti-Tim attitude. It's also behind him trying to cause shit with Tully the other night.