But if you zoom out a bit, you'll see that he's accomplished something that incredible. 

CEOs dream of running successful companies that become so successful that they become integrated into its fabric. Tech CEOs do this, but none of them have done so to the extent that Musk has. Tech CEOs often find themselves at the mercy of politicians. When they say jump, they ask how high. However, Musk's power and personality is such that politicians actually fear him to a certain extent. 

Why? It's not just because he's become something of a central figure in public discourse through X and his community notes feature. It's because there's a very large amount of people who respect and like Musk to the point where his political opinions actually have weight. 

How did he get that? 

It started a long time ago. Musk might be a successful billionaire, but he's always had a penchant for being one of the people. The way he acts and conducts himself is a lot like us. Moreover, he listens to his customers, and I don't mean in the corporate way. 

CEOs are typically not peer to peer. Very rarely will you ever see them interacting with the peasantry unless they absolutely have to, and it's usually for the purposes of public relations and photo ops. Any statements they release are typically workshopped, gone through lawyers, and are worked on by teams before they're released. They try to give off the impression that they care about the public, but the only thing they truly care about is keeping their stockholders happy. 

Musk does not have that cold exterior trying to appear warm and personable, he legitimately is that way. The man will wade into conversations with people as if he's just one of the folks. A person can send him a tweet asking for a small change to one of Tesla's features, and if he likes it, he'll do it. For instance, the idea of "dog mode" on a Tesla, which allows for an owner to leave his dog in the car with temperature controls on and a message on the screen notifying passersby that the dog is fine, wasn't his idea. It was a request by someone on Twitter. 

He takes the same approach to X, implementing features that people request, including adding the "edit" button that was requested for so long. 

Musk's approach is interactive leadership, and because of that, he's won the heart of the people. 

But this has also made him a dangerous and persuasive figure in politics as well. While many might hate him for backing Donald Trump, his political influence cannot be denied. It's become so influential, that there are rumors circulating around that Musk might very well play a part in our political system directly. This rumor truly picked up steam once Donald Trump made a comment that maybe he would bring Musk on to help him make government more efficient to a point where it could look and function a bit differently. 

(READ: Could Elon Musk's Inclusion in the Trump Administration Herald a New Age of Government?)

This will cement Musk as one of the most powerful players in American history, and that's even if he doesn't work under Trump. 

And it's all because he truly thinks the people are worth listening to.