Liberals loved him because they liked to pretend that electric cars are green, and don’t require any change to their existing car-dependent lifestyle while still pretending they’re saving the earth. Tech utopians loved him because “he’s making humanity an interplanetary species”. They all ignored his asshole behavior and worker abuse because their hero Steve Jobs (aka Apple Jesus) was also also a tyrant.
A significant aware sliver of them split off after the whole pedo cave thing, but there were a bunch who still would say things like “he’s a flawed person but his contribution is too important.” A significant segment of them still say this actually, especially the techno utopians who were cheering when his rocket blew up as if that was some kind of success.