> he literally had financial backing from his family
I think it's because the amount he got from his family was tiny in relation to his level of success, and the success being from providing real things people bought/used, and from the real things being things that had never been done before.
The truth is that he lied about almost everything.
He was in the US illegally, didn’t have the qualifications he claimed to (no degree and he was never in a Stanford PHD program, never matriculated there and simply has a letter from a professor he claims is proof he was accepted as a candidate - which it absolutely is not). He failed out of 4 universities. He stole the idea for zip2. He likely sold gems illegally in both Canada and the US - there are huge gaps in his story.
He has cheated and failed up to an unprecedented degree. Fueled by a venture capital industry who realized that backing a conman selling dreams and lying is more reliable than backing an honest entrepreneur who could fail on merit.
He move to politics is the final act. The wheels have come off his cons, Tesla is failing and has no future evidenced by the total lack of a roadmap of new vehicles.
He intends to exit by making his illegal actions legal thanks to Trump.
It’s shameful how instrumental this community has been in propping up a man who history will remember as one of the greatest conmen of all time.
Why do people fall for that? He didn't start from 0, he literally had financial backing from his family.