Elon Musk is brilliant, but two things: (1) 5 billion USD in government subsidies came his way through cronyism, and (2) lots of brilliant people out there. They don’t have the government teat to suckle (and donate back to).
I previously posted both LAT and NRO links to the $5 billion subsidy claim. Another poster here thought the LAT was too left to be reliable and the NRO had not been reliable recently. He refused to acknowledge that the “brilliance” on display had something to do with the subsidies.
There is a strong element of hero worship in the Musk circle. Great for the stock price, until it isn’t.
Without the billions from government, Elon Musk would be considered a daydreamer, at best.