Unfortunately, that's all you need to become a billionaire in this country (besides a massive inheritance).
Every subsidy and tax credit Tesla ever got was earned through fraud and deception.
When Teslas crash on self-driving mode, they turn off self-driving mode nanoseconds before the crash so the driver can be blamed.
Elon literally purchased the title of "Founder" from the actual founder of Tesla.
He got sued into buying Twitter after trying to back out, and now acts like it was always his master plan.
Emerald mines? What emerald mines.
Rocket explosion? It was supposed to do that, look at all my engineers clapping and cheering knowing they'll be fired if they don't.
Nobody wants to pay for a checkmark? Of course they do, look at all the check marks he's buying for them.
This man's entire career has been him screaming "I'm not owned, I'm not owned, you're owned." And it works. Because capitalism is the exact opposite of a meritocracy.
At least the Steven King one was just a fuck you. King had been vocal about how he was never ever going to pay for Twitter and I am willing to bet money that Musk actually insisted on paying for it. He could of course just give out a free account without any money changing hands, since he owns Twitter, but I am certain that he is actually paying himself $8/month in the name of King's Twitter account just to spite him. Since King is also rich and clearly doesn't want this there are going to be lawyers and bankers involved and the total cost that Musk is paying for this little stunt is probably not really $8/month, but rather enough money to completely support an entire family for like a century.