He's
not a typical human, though. He appears to lack the capacity for empathy and he is cruel -- he toys with people like Halli Thorleifsson in public. It is sociopathic, which by definition makes him unusual.
Sensible, consistent business leaders simply do not behave the way he does: if they are sociopaths, they at least try to surround themselves with qualified people who are not.
Elon has ruined his reputation with everyone who matters. It's not unreasonable to assume that if he makes judgements this bad in public he is making much worse judgements in private. This isn't business, it's a function of his personality.
He has not ruined his reputation with the people he is enabling: the assorted alt right and hard right wing pond scum he follows and trollishly retweets because they provide him with narcissistic supply.
The reality I suspect is that most people who know who he is don't think "he's a dick but he's a good businessman" now, because they can see that little of what he is doing is good business. He didn't have to do this at all. And the majority of people see the serious flaws in his behaviour.
And while people still have a tendency to compensate for the narcissists who crept up on them while validating their beliefs (Trump, Boris Johnson) I don't believe people have their eyes closed to Musk, because everyone who comes to understand a narcissist gets a bit better at avoiding letting more narcissists into their lives.
I always tended to believe that he's a pitiable little rich boy who is overselling his own myth, but I now believe he is malignant.
The Thai cave rescue story is what cemented it in my mind: he is a bully who expects to get away with callously punishing other people for his hurt feelings.
He's not the sort of person who should be trusted with anything, and we know from the behaviour of other severe narcissists that his behaviour will only get worse after the criticism he receives from this incident.