He is definitely changing the perception many had of him. Probably many people thought of him as an eccentric tech genius and in a harmless, inspirational, or non political context. Eccentric is starting to veer towards quite crazy or unhinged, harmless/inspirational/non political is starting to look more like sinister, corrupt, and/or divisive.
Appears that he is throwing away a lot of the good will people had towards him and his other companies (Tesla and SpaceX particularly), so that they will be making a downwards reevaluation of him. Will be interesting to see how far this all goes, particularly in Musk making himself a target for negative media and inviting scandals.
In most any conversations I've been in or heard involving Musk, the overall perception of him and his image was overwhelmingly positive. This entire Twitter fiasco, and how he is handling it, seems to have changed that a lot.
Additionally, once the media starts zeroing in or locking on to people with a negative story to tell and sell, they can run with it and where they try to outdo each other. I don't see the continuous negative stories and narrative about Musk stopping for years to come.
Appears that he is throwing away a lot of the good will people had towards him and his other companies (Tesla and SpaceX particularly), so that they will be making a downwards reevaluation of him. Will be interesting to see how far this all goes, particularly in Musk making himself a target for negative media and inviting scandals.