A year and a half to be engaged I get, because the wedding would be about 2 years after passing which is a year to grieve, 6 months to date if you really found "the one 2.0", and then another 6 months for planning. But this is my take on it, feel free to say it's shit, it's not even some marriage of two people sharing in grief over the loss of their own loved ones and finding solace.
I'm not gonna lie and say my own opinion of his stank ass isn't factoring into this, but he's the one who acts like he can skip on water because muh principles. And he was on record saying she passed suddenly, to the point people were (at the time joking now they probably believe it) that Israel killed her because he's so anti-Israel, was the love of his life, etc. His own words make it seem like this was beyond just a marriage and she was his soulmate. Fuck, I think it's weird the woman he's dating, a Rand Paul staffer, would be willing to go along with this. Unless she's a 36 year old with baby brain ticking clock and she's the one pushing for it which means he's just another autist who can't see the warning signs.