If you really thought this, it'd be company policy and the employee wouldn't have to ask. Faked for engagement?

You're pinning the "lunatic" flag on someone spreading a good message. Why?

In the spirit of the original reddit forum, I'm just pointing out someone who seems to be self-congratulating. It would be less "lunatic" to just do the deed and then not post about it. Your "Why?" seems rather pointed, as if I have some nefarious agenda against working from home.
- I think the reasoning behind it is to counter the LinkedIn corporate slave driving culture where upper managers think everyone should be tied to their open air desk like dogs in a kettle so they can feel in control.
  
  He's trying to set an example for others to follow.

Who knows what their intentions are, but they're still spreading a good message. And to be fair there is a difference between a fairly lax work from home policy and wanting to work from home permanently. It could also just be a smaller company where they don't really have official policies for things that haven't come up yet.

I've seen other people posting this exact copy as their own, word for word. Something's off here

I'm guessing because there's literally no penalty for it. May as well steal content to give you more interactions, if that's what you're after.
- The penalty is getting an hour dedicated to you in a hbomberguy video.

I can't say if that's really how he runs his company or not, but he definitely made up that quote for social media. He probably practiced it in front of a mirror after that in case he gets asked to repeat it later.

Not just for clout.

There's a good chance he's saying that to get people to apply at where he works, and people would be told (or at least think) that exceptions to the written rule are frequent and not a big deal.

Then when the new round of (likely disposable) employees ask for something, they're told to fuck off an to read their hiring agreement.

Usually the worst a business is, the more they make up weird stories about how cool it is to work there. Because they have to trick people into accepting positions.
My boss would say something very similar, and mean it.

LOL, in the same vein, he also told me, "I don't believe in micromanaging my people. If you find me micromanaging you, it's because I'm looking for your replacement."

It really depends on a lot of things. I have worked places where there are firm remote work policies and ones where it’s entirely up to your manager. It also depends on the employee’s position and whether they require something only available in the office, like a VPN or dev terminal or physical materials, and whether they are expected in meetings.