He did market himself pretty well, we gotta admit that. He's the head of multiple sciencey-sounding companies, and he just kept his idiot mouth shut. Not a bad plan, to be honest.
But then he started posting on Twitter. Whoops.
He never really kept his idiot mouth shut, though. But I think a lot of the tech and business media sources are rather invested in the idea that tech billionaires are geniuses who earned it, so his worst nonsense was underplayed when you needed journalists to tell you about it.
Tony Stark Road a homemade hand built space suit into space, Elon Musk won't ride a factory built spaceship into space. I'm honestly amazed he has the courage to drive a Tesla.
Oh, I think Elmo is terrified at the thought of riding a Dragon into space. I guarantee he won't ride a Starship into orbit, let alone to Mars.
Of course, at this rate it looks like nobody is going to ride a Starship anywhere.