Isn't that more of a virtue of the industries he is in rather than specifics of the companies he has built? SpaceX gets government contracts, yes, but no more

Isn't that more of a virtue of the industries he is in rather than specifics of the companies he has built? SpaceX gets government contracts, yes, but no more than Boeing or Lockheed Martin. You can also argue they give a lot more value for the public money they do get, relative to the industry incumbents. Similarly, any other car company that had bothered to make a viable electric car could have cashed in on the regulatory credits. In fact Toyota, the biggest car company in the world, was doing this for a decade with the Prius, until they dropped the ball on going full electric.