[paytonjjones]

> wanting to be perceived as a real-world Tony Stark

The thing is, he _had_ this. He had all of Reddit worshipping him. He had the press. He had the tech-internet.

Then he knowingly blew it all up overnight to ally with Trump.

I think the reasons why are pretty clear: a son-who-loves-me became a daughter-who-despises-me and his companies got repeatedly hamstrung by California Democrats.

But if his root motivation was truly just approval, he would have taken it on the chin and accepted slower growth of his other ambitions. So it's a little more complicated than that.

[otterley]

> Then he knowingly blew it all up overnight to ally with Trump.

He blew it up years before that with his "pedo guy" false accusation drama.

[philipallstar]

> Then he knowingly blew it all up overnight to ally with Trump.

It's true. Nothing the American left hates more than an ex-Democrat. If only they hadn't made being a centrist a Republican position.

[stickfigure]

> Then he knowingly blew it all up overnight to ally with Trump.

This is speculation, but I am guessing that he didn't do this knowingly. He's probably surrounded with yes-men who didn't challenge his fever dream of swooping in, fixing the government, and being lauded as a hero.