He’s got access to government agencies and his companies are the ones who could benefit from government contracts because he’s helped defund the watchdog agencies and individuals.
Just because he’s not a temporary employee doesn’t mean he’s not on-call to the Oval Office as a civilian advisor.
The two points you made are true and there is no debating that, but I still think his government power grab is a giant backfire for him since the backlash from his lil nazi salute cosplay cost him the biggest tesla sales drop in recent history. Maybe of all time, since sales have fallen 13% in this first quarter alone. Thats huge and probably will lead to firings and mass layoffs, not to mention the revenue drop. Twitter has gone south, and europe is now replacing starlink with better options.
I said a while ago that as hated as elon is, his power grabs will come at a very high price, and it already has, his brands are now toxic as fukk, nobody wants to continue to do business with him, people hate his cars now, and this is just the beginning.