I first noticed a change with Elon publicly when he fired PR for Tesla and said in an investor meeting something about twitter being more effective and cheaper

I first noticed a change with Elon publicly when he fired PR for Tesla and said in an investor meeting something about twitter being more effective and cheaper than a full PR team. This was around the time/soon after trumps first election, and I believe he studied trumps ability to dominate the news cycle and began emulating him. Ted Cruz started going this route around the same time, and both Cruz and Elon were quite bad at it at first. Cruz eventually gave up trying to be like Trump, but Elon leaned into how he was kind of bad at it and became like a clown. It's "no news is bad news" taken to the extreme - if he does something stupid and people talk about it, that's publicity! I don't know how he's gotten as far as he has, both in access to power and down the rabbit hole, but it looks like he's drank the kool aid now. Maybe it's cynical opportunism, or maybe he surrounded himself with true believers who pushed him into it. But I have a feeling his story arc is far from over