I cannot find a single thing about him that’s likable. His ideas are all fucking stupid, and he only got to where he is now through rampant exploitation, disregard for safety in his factories, and stealing the “founder” title from every company he bought. He literally just bought his way to the top, and for some reason people see him as a deity. He isn’t charismatic, like a cult leader, and he gives off the impression that he peaked in middle school. So what about him is so likable to people? I don’t get it, and I probably never will.
none of what you've mentioned filters down to most people. They just hear about this business guy making futuristic tech, those weird cars, and robots. We're in a weird moment culturally where I'd say half of Americans have probably never even heard of Elon Musk. A lot of people I know had never heard of him until I brought him up. Everyone used to know who Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were, but either through some concerted effort to keep Musk's weirder traits out of the public eye or some kind of modern dissociated public attention span, I have no idea.
"Normal" people who have heard of Musk and like him will know a limited number of things about him. He wants to get humans into space and he runs that company with the expensive cars that are futuristic. That scans as really impressive to most people. Remember when he was on SNL and Grimes showed up as Princess Peach and the crowd seemed confused about who she was? That's because they had no idea who Grimes was or what she looked like, that's the level of non-Musk permeating public awareness right now.
I had a coworker the other week, a normal type guy who has only heard positive things about Musk ask me, "He must be under a lot of stress, right? The amount of stuff he has to worry about on a daily basis." Coworker was a little shocked when I replied "Elon Musk is probably under no stress whatsoever and probably isn't very involved in the practical side of his businesses." First he had heard anyone say anything negative about the guy and my coworker's not a dummy, he's a smart guy who doesn't follow public figures very closely, so he'll just have a surface level of whatever he might see over Facebook or something half remembered from CNN. I expect that's what it's like for most people.