it's an appeal to net worth and the argument that you don't become the richest person on the planet by being a massive idiot that everyone likes to paint him out as. he's problematic and sucks but he's not an idiot (in business)
I agree with you but he has also made many claims that are false. About hyperloop (where he also said it was validated by SpaceX engineers) but it turns out the original paper doesn't actually work. But Musk didn't try to do hyperloop of course so its kind of irrelevant.
The thing is, this is a massive expansion of AI investment. And AI has been the thing where Musk has failed consistently the most. Nothing he has done around AI indicates he has some special genius or insight.
The thing he had success with were things that were known to be good ideas, reusable rockets, electric cars and space based LEO communications. What he did is he brought together the finances and build a and lead a team to execute on them.
However, we are far away from that with xAI and Space data-centers.
"claims that are false" is such a broad statement and applies to basically 99% of business leaders, and probably 100% of anyone who's a household name. Elon gets that reputation 50x worse than, say, Larry Ellison, but only because when Elon says "revenues are up 12.5%" and it's actually 12.4%, there are 800 headlines the next day that he's lying and misleading investors and the SEC should investigate.
in the long term, elon has a very good track record for attempting to follow through with his stated intentions. sometimes things change, or he changes his mind, which is his right as much as it is anyone's. that doesn't mean "false claim".
"The thing he had success with were things that were known to be good ideas, reusable rockets, electric cars and space based LEO communications."
This is so outrageously not what history reflects. Elon started an electric car company when the entire industry very strongly believed both, individually (car and electric cars), are absolutely stupid, terrible ideas. And Elon did both at the same time anyway.
If you asked Hacker News 15 years ago if starting a rocket company was a "good idea" and a "good way to make a trillion dollars", you'd be hazed ruthlessly. Everyone in the establishment aerospace community said it was impossible or absolutely divorced from reality.
Elon, more than anyone alive, has been way ahead of the curve on good ideas when everyone else thinks they're idiotic. online payment processing, electric cars, reusable rockets