My (much) older kid still does ridiculous things that defy reason (and usually end up with something broken). I don't think it's fair to say that every action they take has some deeper meaning behind it.
"Why were you throwing the baseball at the running fan?"
"I don't know...I was bored."
I'm not sure that stuff dies out fully with adulthood. I imagine part of Musk doing iffy salutes or Trump doing weird tariffs is a curiosity - what is I do this odd thing, I wonder what happens. I can think of examples with myself too - I'm kind of learning short term trading and the behaviors can be counterintuitive.
"Why were you throwing the baseball at the running fan?" "I don't know...I was bored."