[ModernMech]

Musk fell in with the alt-right MAGA types, where cruelty is the point. Look at it from Musk's perspective: he pulls a stunt like this, and people rush to his defense, he gets more followers, his impression count goes up, the world starts talking about him, media publishes papers about him, and at the end of the day he's getting richer while doing it. We've created a world where such people can be as awful as they want, and they can insulate themselves from any negative feedback whatsoever. Not only that, they cultivate a following of people who crave their awfulness.

Go read the Twitter comments of people defending Musk. Actually, save yourself the trouble -- they're disgusting. Musk is never going to be the one to tell them they're taking things too far. Instead, Musk is the one who will take it further the next go around, because he knows what they want to hear. There's nothing to rein him in.

Musk has created a vicious cycle for himself that he cannot recognize, and the only way he'll ever break out is if he actually suffers some semblance of negative consequences.